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COPYRIGHT DEPOSTB 



Isffie Draftsman 



BY 
ROBERT W. SHELMIRE 



THE SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING BUREAU 

CHICAGO 

19 19 






COPYRIGHT 1919 
BY ROBERT W. SHELMIRE 



©CI.A530123 

JUL 10 1919 



Preface 



This book contains a message to draftsmen. Its aim is to show 
them the way by which it is possible to rise aibove seeming intoler- 
able conditions, — conditions which have been imposed gradually 
though persistently for many years until draftsmen have come to 
realize that they are not getting a square deal. 

The writer's viewpoint is obtained from the outside as well as 
the inside of the drafting-room and is 'based on years of experience, 
covering the greater part of the United States. His thought is not 
one of bitterness, rather is it one of determination to present the 
draftsman's case precisely as it exists, sparing none. That the evils 
of the drafting-room may be destroyed, it has seemed necessary to 
dwell at length upon them. 

The critical reader must realize that the work is unique in that 
it is the only book written on the ■business or economic side of draft- 
ing; therefore the material is entirely original. A great amount of 
time has been spent on the study of the problems confronting the 
draftsman and a most careful search has Ibeen made to determine the 
underlying causes and their remedies. The effects every one is 
familiar with ; it is primary causes we want uncovered. In every in- 
stance where unsatisfactory conditions are mentioned a remedy is 
given or suggested. 

Thus in a. spirit of helpfulness this (book is dedicated to those 
men who are engaged in drafting, the finest, the noblest, the most 
tedious work there is. The men who designed and made the plans 
of the steel and concrete ships, the sub-chasers, airplanes, tanks, 



battleships, cannon, machine guns and a thousand other things, all 
of which, to say the least, helped to perpetuate freedom on earth. 
They doubled over the drafting-board to beat the mad Hun at his 
own game of scientific warfare and they did it. They schemed, 
planned, invented and developed the engines of war and destruction 
but without any of the glory of seeing or helping them accomplish 
their victorious purpose. The praises of the draftsman have never 
been sung for they live and work in obscurity. 



ROBERT W. SHELMIRE. 



Chicago, May, 1919. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE KEY-NOTE. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE KEY-NOTE. 

The substance of this book, in a word, is a plea for RECOGNI- 
TION of the draftsman. The key-note of recognition is ORGAN- 
IZATION. Without organization there will be no recognition. 

Much to the shame of the engineering profession draftsmen in 
general are held in low esteem. It is hard to explain why this is so, 
since almost iaill engineers were formerly draftsmen and the drafts- 
man of today is the engineer of tomorrow. The drafting-room is 
both the cradle and the workshop of the engineer and of all engi- 
neering projects. Engineers, many of them, have been raising them- 
selves as it were by keeping the draftsmen down. Naturally drafts- 
men have become discontented; hence the prevailing and nation- 
wide unrest in drafting-rooms. 

The unrest must be quieted but it needs to be done scientifical- 
ly. Furthermore it must be done in a true democratic spirit, and the 
attempt to define draftsman as something apart from engineer and 
engineering is not democratic. Germany has her classes of engineer 
employers and employees. Do we want this in America? 

Draftsmen are forming unions. They have been driven to this 
by those who should be foremost in trying to uplift them. Drafts- 
men have themselves come to believe they are tradesmen, when in 
fact, they are no more so than are dentists, surgeons or teachers. This 
tendency to unionize is most serious because of the intimate knowl- 
edge draftsmen possess of all the plans, processes and patents upon 
which rest the very foundation of modern industry. Engineers, what 
are you doing to prevent it? Read this book and get the draftsman's 
viewpoint. Then let cooperation replace humiliation. Start at once 
an employees' representation plan in the drafting-room. 

The managing of drafting-rooms must receive higher considera- 
tion. They are, generally speaking, run in a haphazard manner. If 
every drafting-room were to be carefully and scientifically conducted, 
sufficient saving would be effected to give draftsmen the one hun- 



10 THE DRAFTSMAN. 






dred per cent increase to which I believe they are entitled. Moreover 
when engineers and draftsmen work together and control the oper- 
ation and construction of all engineering works, to the exclusion of 
lawyers, doctors and politicians, untold millions will be saved the 
public. 

The employment situation is one which reflects no credit on 
engineers and their societies. True the societies were not organized 
to furnish employment service, but does this excuse the members in- 
dividually for not extending assistance to the younger men who are 
growing up in the profession and will succeed them? The exploita- 
tion of young engineer-draftsmen constitutes a most shameful chap- 
ter in the history of engineering. To refuse aid and to force these 
young men to seek the agencies was bad enough, but to find engi- 
neers operating and profiting thereby is a bitter experience which 
many have gone through. 

Much of the responsibility for the draftsman's predicament is 
placed on the older engineers. Draftsmen are not free from blame 
however. They have remained all too willingly in a comatose state 
while the world around them has advanced in thought and action. 
Just as nations have learned that none can be free without assisting 
others to be free, so draftsmen too must realize that none can live 
to themselves and ignore the problems of society. Draftsmen must 
help other draftsmen. They must exercise the right of franchise, 
particularly concerning engineering matters. They must come out 
of themselves and mingle with other human beings. They must read 
technical magazines, keep up-to-date, tand be alive. 

Schools which teach drafting must give the students a bette 
idea of the im,portance and dignity of the work of engineering, pres- 
ent the business side correctly, and cease trie misleading advertise- 
ments. Thousands of young men are today being deluded with the 
idea that a demand exists for draftsmen at salaries of "$35 to $100 
per week to start." Every draftsman regretfully -knows that $35 
per week was almost the maximum pay for men of experience before 
the war and that the average increase since then has no more than 
equalled the increase in living expenses. Draftsmen should exert 
themselves to put these dishonest schools out of business and not 
permit them to exploit the profession. 



: 



THE KEY-NOTE. 11 

A word has been said about draftsmen's conventions to stand- 
ardize drafting and working conditions. It will mean a tremendous 
saving when once this is done for there is a vast amount of energy- 
wasted at present. Positions must be standardized so that drafts- 
men filling positions which require equal amount of training shall 
receive equal pay in all branches of engineering. 

The chapter on patents contains information regarding proper 
procedure to protect an invention. The subject is important to all 
draftsmen and nowhere else is it given in such condensed form. 
Almost every one is grossly ignorant of the nature and value of a 
patent, and draftsmen, above all, should know more about them. 

Finally — organize. With the existing societies if possible, but 
ORGANIZE. The union method is beneath the intelligence of 
draftsmen. Show the tradesman a better example of organization, 
one which fights for and demands only what is right. If salaries are 
too low, then prove that you are worth more. If -working conditions 
are unsatisfactory or the management is poor, present your case 
properly to the highest officials . Workmen have rights which em- 
ployers are now bound to respect. If drafting is not the most pleas- 
ant occupation, let's make it so. Remember, drafting is engineering 
and draftsmen are engineers. 



CHAPTER II. 
THE DRAFTSMAN AND HIS WORK. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DRAFTSMAN AND HIS WORK. 

APPRENTICE SYSTEM. A generation ago drafting was con- 
sidered a trade and in fact that is about all it was. Men became pro- 
ficient in making drawings but it was largely mechanical or physical 
labor and did not include as much calculating or mental labor as the 
drafting of today. This being also the day of the apprentice, most 
mechanical plants required their apprentices to spend some months 
in the drafting-room before becoming journeymen machinists. Then 
followed a similiar system of apprenticing young men in the drafting- 
rooms without requiring shop experience. This was a sad mistake. 
The draftsman who has never worked in a shop or on construction 
where he can see and feel his work go together, never makes a 
thoroughly experienced man. In those early days great importance 
was placed on learning a trade. Since drafting was considered the 
same as a trade, a beginner, whether he was an apprentice or not, 
received little or no pay during the first year or so. He was given 
expert instruction however, and became a good draftsman. The 
older men acted as teachers and task masters and were expected to 
tell the younger ones what to do and how to do it. 

SCHOOL SYSTEMS. Times have changed since then. Now it 
is hard to find young men who have been well trained, because the 
engineering schools do not place sufficient importance on this work 
to give a good foundation on which to build a thorough draftsman. 
There is little system about this training in the colleges tand schools 
and young men are turned out with various kinds of rules and 
methods instilled into them by teachers who many times have them- 
selves only a superficial knowledge of the art. 

For this reason the correspondence and night schools have been 
able to fill a need since their students are mainly ambitious young 
fellows who plug along until they develop into very good draftsmen. 
They are able to earn a small wage from the beginning which makes 
them even more desirable than college men, because the latter, hav- 



16 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

ing been taught to consider drafting menial work (a most contempt- 
ible attitude) do not accomplish as much. Just how much time to 
devote to drafting in college is a problem for educators to decide, but 
to teach a student, or even to permit him to leave college, with the 
idea that drafting is lowly work and beneath the college man is all 
wrong. It makes him a snob and every true American hates a snob. 
If a correspondence school student makes a better workman it is be- 
cause he is not handicapped in this way and is willing to work and 
learn. 

THE ART OF DRAFTING. Drafting has become a highly 
developed art, yet we are not dealing with the artist draftsman and 
only to a certain extent with the architectural draftsman but more 
particularly with the men now known as engineering draftsmen. 
The foundation of this work is of course plain mechanical drawing. 
The development proceeds into the higher work of calculating and 
designing in connection with the drawing. 

There are various branches of drafting work, each highly special- 
ized and requiring special study for each one, except of course, 
for the fundamentals of drawing, which remain the same. The 
work of a structural draftsman differs greatly from that of a mach- 
ine draftsman and from the others as well. However all lines of 
drafting overlap and there is no distinct separation between them. 
For instance a ship built of steel requires considerable work from 
the structural draftsman. All ships require machine drafting also. 
Railroad construction requires a particular type of training for 
draftsmen' which is sometimes called civil engineering drafting, 
meaning almost anything but nothing definite. It includes the 
drawing of maps, grade profiles, bridges, buildings and plans of all 
conditions of railroad building from sea coast to mountains, under 
the head of Maintenance and Construction. In the Motive Power 
department plans are made for engines, cars and all mechanical 
equipment of the railroads. In the Signal department plans of signal 
layouts, electrical equipment and all such work are drawn. 

The work in all lines of drafting requires infinite patience. Par- 
ticularly is this true where much lettering is to be done, as on maps, 
etc., and also in machine drafting which requires great detail. Mach- 
ine drafting or as it is usually called, mechanical drafting, requires 






THE DRAFTSMAN AND HIS WORK. 17 

the most exacting work. A man may actually spend months on one 
drawing of a complicated machine. Structural drafting, which in- 
cludes the drafting for all steel and concrete structures, is probably 
the most complicated, that is to say, when it is complicated at all, 
because the draftsman must visualize the connections of the steel 
members and the structure as a whole and at the same time do a 
great deal of calculating as the drawing proceeds. The calculations 
nearly always require trigonometry and sometimes the most complex 
mathematical formulae. To draw skewed connections of steel work 
requires an intimate knowledge of descriptive geometry. In mining 
work the underground surveys have to be plotted accurately on maps 
in order to tell just where the workings are and to see that they are 
within the property lines. 

Every draftsman should be familiar with two or three branches 
of the work and have sufficient experience to enable him to take a 
position in any one of them. It .may not always be possible, but it 
is a great protection, for if work becomes slack in one branch, a 
man, thus prepared, has the advantage of knowing how to do some- 
thing else. In the same way construction men who have been 
through the drafting-room are able to save themselves a loss if they 
can obtain drafting work in the winter or at other times when they 
can not work outside. Dull periods often occur in all branches of 
engineering and necessitate frequent changes. 

STANDARD PRACTICES. In all lines of drafting it is most 
important to know the system in the particular drafting-room in 
which you are working because there is no well established system 
in common use for the preparation of plans. That is, a drawing of 
a machine made in one plant does not conform to the practice of 
another shop and so it might be impossible to build it there. Certain 
branches of engineering have 'become standardized to some extent 
however. A structural steel product could be built in any structural 
plant, but every one has a different system of notation for their 
drawings which is not understood in another plant and is apt to cause 
confusion. 

The reason there is so much chaos in the practice of drafting is 
because there is no association in which draftsmen get together to 
harmonize their work. They are eligible to membership in the big 



18 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

national societies but the caste system practically bars them from 
taking any active part. In railroad work there has been some stand- 
ardizing largely because of the interstate transportation system which 
necessitated the repairs of equipment on roads to which the equip- 
ment does not belong. Therefore the repair shops had to be able to 
build the same repair parts -and work to uniform drawings. What 
uniformity there is to railroad drafting is due to the Master Car 
Builders' Association and the American Railway Engineering As- 
sociation, but a great deal of "lost motion" yet exists on the railroads. 

Standardizing for -all drafting work is something which must 
eventually come about for the lack of system at present is causing 
an immense loss of time and money. The kind of efficiency or system 
which makes a draftsman a mere tooth of a cog-wheel in a great 
machine is however not the kind of efficiency desired. There should 
be a system of standards which does not require a, draftsman to spend 
three or more months each time he goes to a new plant, learning to 
work on exactly the same kind of drawings to which he has been ac- 
customed. Since it is necessary that draftsmen change their posi- 
tions more or less frequently because of the fluctuating condition of 
engineering work, it should be made as easy as possible for one to 
start at a new plant without losing any of the efficacy acquired at a 
former place. 

The solution of this question is draftsmen's conventions where 
they may thrash out their problems in detail. Companies should 
grant men the time and pay the expense of delegates to a convention 
for this purpose because it means to them an increase in the pro- 
ductive effort of the men. It costs several hundred dollars to break 
in a new man at almost any kind of work. Shop managers compile 
figures representing this cost on various lines of skilled labor. No 
set figure could be given for drafting in general, but somewhere 
between $100 and $1000 would cover almost any case. Of course 
when a draftsman changes from one line of work to another he has 
to learn the shop and office practice of that different line, which in- 
creases the cost of "breaking in." However this expense to com- 
panies would be greatly lessened if they would encourage their drafts- 
men to standardize their work throughout the country. 



THE DRAFTSMAN AND HIS WORK. 19 

IMPORTANCE OF DRAFTING. Drafting has assumed a very 
important position in the engineering field, not to mention the entire 
field of industry. It also represents a very considerable part of the 
cost of engineering work. Occasionally the drawings cost much 
more than they should, as the result of various conditions. Possibly 
politics enters into the situation and the cost is not a consideration, 
or perhaps it is lack of system or poor management. There may be 
no check on the work and no one knows, for there is much drafting 
which is done carelessly and without proper supervision. Such 
drafting is a waste of time. If a drawing is of any value at all it 
must be correct and made in such a way as to reflect the intelligence 
of the engineer who plans and designs, so that every man who must 
work to that drawing has confidence in it and in the designer. 
"Cheap" drafting is expensive because some one always pays double 
in the end. 

Every drawing represents some one's thoughts and ideas. These 
ideas are intended to meet requirements at hand and should be car- 
ried out in a drawing well made and accurate within reasonable 
bounds. It must be plain and every line for some purpose and all 
complicated details enlarged so that no workman can go wrong. 
Many draftsmen fail to realize that, when their drawings frequently 
come back from the shop for explanations, information is lacking. 
When a drawing is made correctly there is little speculation or ar- 
gument about it. Every figure must be intelligible not only on the 
tracing but on the blue print. Remember a workman has to read it 
in the shop or an engineer in the field where they do not always have 
good light and it is frequently blurred by dirty or greasy hands. 

The importance and value of drafting and the great responsibility 
often taken by draftsmen is not appreciated by the public nor does 
the engineering profession give proper credit where it is due. The 
value of work turned out by one draftsman will often run into mil- 
lions of dollars per year. Doubtless he will not be entirely re- 
sponsible : then again he may be. For instance, it was the draftsman 
who took a hastily drawn plan of a cantonment, sketched on the 
water and sewer pipes, calculated the proper sizes and within a few 
days the entire system was under order, amounting to hundreds of 
thousands of dollars. Does 'any one deny that this is engineering, 



20 THE DRAFTSMAN. 






or that the draftsman has the right to call himself an engineer? 
Thousands of other draftsmen are taking the responsibility just as 
this man did, but they are not getting paid for it, nor are they re- 
cognized as engineers. 

PRESENT STATUS OF THE DRAFTSMAN. To distinguish 
between a tracer, a detailer, a checker, or a designer is an impos- 
sibility. A tracer is sometimes a detailer ; a detailer is always an 
embryo designer and sometimes a checker; a checker is one day 
checking and the next day designing and the designer may frequently 
be found tracing his own designs. There is only one line of distinc- 
tion, and that is, or at least should be, between the tracer who has 
the brains to become a detailer and the one who has not. Practically 
every young man who enters the drafting-room is ambitious to ad- 
vance step by step to what he considers better positions. If this 
situation is clearly understood it will be seen that if these young 
men are to learn the art of drafting thoroughly, they must begin at 
the bottom and learn it all. They must become tracers and learn 
to make plain lettering and ink a neat drawing. Where then does 
the "professional tracer" come in? Answer: He does not come in; 
he goes out. There is no place for him or for girls either who do not 
intend to progress beyond the mere mechanical work of making a 
tracing or even the very simple detail work. Girls, by the way, are 
entering the drafting-room and I do not mean to say they should 
not, — I would ias soon try to induce the Mississippi River to run up- 
hill. However I believe they should enter on the same terms as boys 
and receive equal pay for equivalent work. 

In order to learn, the beginner must be instructed by competent 
men and acquire actual experience with the work himself. He must 
learn and advance, or his place given to some one who will. Since 
the so-called "professional tracers" are now doing work which is re- 
quired of students if the latter are to learn properly, then the former 
should be eliminated from the drafting-room. Furthermore when 
tracers are paid nearly as much as experienced detailers, as is some- 
times the case, this is always a source of discontent in an office. 
What incentive is there for a young man to go through college or to 
burn the midnight oil for several years >a,nd then find a tracer, a mere 
mechanical workman earning but a few dollars less than he does? 



THE DRAFTSMAN AND HIS WORK. 21 

DRAFTING NOT A TRADE. It is obvious that drafting con- 
sidered as a business is not a trade because the mechanical skill re- 
quisite is of minor importance when compared to the mental work 
required and actually used. Few realize this most important fact. 
It is evident that since drafting is not a trade it must be classed as 
a profession. If it is a profession it can scarcely be called the profes- 
sion of drafting, for drafting is the foundation of the engineering pro- 
fession. There is, therefore, only one other view to consider and 
that is to recognize that drafting is the engineering profession as 
much as any other work in engineering. This is the correct stand 
to take. Furthermore, the draftsman has the right to be called an 
engineer and to be a member of the engineering profession. 

There >are many welfare and business problems which must be 
solved by engineers and first of all is this one of definitions. The 
terms, engineer and draftsman, must be defined so that every one 
will know what is meant when the words are used. 

Turn to the dictionary and you will find "profession" defined 
very plainly as "an occupation that involves a liberal education and 
mental rather than manual labor" ; "engineering" as "the art of de- 
signing and constructing engines, public works, roads, etc., etc." ; 
and "engineer" as "one engaged in engineering". Now this definition 
of engineer does not conform exactly to common practice, since it is 
frequently heard in a much more limited sense. However broad- 
minded engineers do not limit the terminology of the word ; it is done 
in the class rooms. The public will never understand what an en- 
gineer is until engineers can agree among themselves upon a defini- 
tion. As long as we consider only those who have progressed ias 
far or farther than we ourselves as being engineers, and as long as 
we say of the others, "Oh, he is not an engineer," this agreement 
can never be brought about. 

That there must be good and bad, competent and incompetent, 
engineers until human beings become infallible, seems never to be 
considered. When this familiar phrase, "He's not an engineer," is 
heard, the speaker is invariably passing judgment upon his fellow 
man and we are sufficiently warned of this folly two thousand years 
ago. 



22 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

We must emphasize the distinction between the mechanician or 
engine runner and the engineer proper. Engineering is not a trade, 
nor the engineer an operator, but >a mental worker, a designer, a build- 
er, etc., and his work a profession. Common practice in engineering 
considers various kinds of technical men, including inspectors, teach- 
ers, efficiency experts, chemists, etc., as belonging to the engineering 
profession largely because they are not tradesmen and there is no 
other profession in which to classify them. Draftsmen, surveyors, 
etc., even rodmen and axemen, should also be included in the profes- 
sion, provided they have the beginning of a technical education. 
Since they are in the profession they have the right to be called en- 
gineers. Why not let it be understood that they are engineers and 
end this hypocritical practice of trying to define who is and who is 
not an engineer? Engineers must broaden out, both in their defini- 
tions and vision. Every definition which narrows the terminology of 
"engineer" and engineering" is open to criticism and will not endure. 
The words, tracer, detailer, checker, designer and squad-boss, are 
words which help to cause the confusion and misunderstanding by the 
public and by engineers. In dentistry we do not talk of "tooth- 
pullers", "tooth-fillers", or "crowners", but there are men who do 
these things and nothing else. They are dentists. The public under- 
stands that the work of a dentist includes all such details but people 
do not understand what a checker or a designer does nor even that 
the work is connected with engineering. It is not necessary to use 
such words denoting the kind of work one does, either in or out of 
the drafting-room. If we want the public to understand our work 
then we -should make it easier for them to understand. There is only 
one way so far as a business title goes and that is to use the word, 
engineer, and no other. Drafting as a business oa»n not be divorced 
from engineering as a business. 

In this book which pertains to the business end of drafting and 
the welfare of the draftsman, there is no mention of technical sub- 
jects or of proper methods of lettering, or of ways to hold the ruling 
pen, nor is any space taken with the old, familiar tables, all of which 
may be found in hundreds of other books. Draftsmen are tired of 
studying them; no doubt they want a change of diet and so this 
work is "designed" to answer the craving for something different. 



CHAPTER III. 
WORKING CONDITIONS. 






CHAPTER III. 
WORKING CONDITIONS. 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER WORK. The conditions un- 
der which draftsmen work are most unsatisfactory. The attitude 
seems to be to spend just as little money in this department as pos- 
sible toward office furniture, space or salaries. The drafting-room 
being absolutely essential it cannot be dispensed with, but it can be 
and is made most disagreeable for the draftsmen in a great many 
places. Drafting should be considered as an overhead expense and 
not as labor at so much per hour on each contract. I do not mean to 
say that the draftsman's time should not be charged up to each job, 
for it should, but that drafting should be considered with the same 
dignity as engineering, which it properly is. Until drafting is thought 
of as engineering and engineering is raised to its proper place as the 
"noblest of professions" the draftsman has little hope of bettering his 
condition. 

A comparison of the equipment of the average drafting-room 
with other offices is sometimes amusing. A bank, for example, in- 
variably has a magnificent building, marble walls and ceilings, elab- 
orate metal work and burglar-proof vaults, mahogany furniture, 
splendid rugs, etc., and yet at many of them same mahogany desks 
are clerks which could be replaced by any intelligent boy with a few 
weeks' training. The insurance companies are similiarly outfitted 
and both savor much of that old fable about the spider and the fly. 
State and Federal offices are frequently fitted out with thousands of 
dollars worth of furniture and decorations with only a few political 
ward-healers to occupy them. Large corporations invariably have 
offices well furnished and equipped. 

Consider now the drafting-room even in these same corporations. 
All too often it is >a crowded, poorly lighted, dirty and dingy room. 
The furniture for each man consists of one table @ $7.50 and one 
stool @ $1.25, total $8.75 — normal price. The chief draftsman's 
desk is about on a par with the rest of the office. A comfortable 



26 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

stool is almost an unheard-of luxury in a drafting-room though they 
are on the market and sometimes furnished to book-keepers. Car- 
pets or rugs are even more of a luxury but they are furnished for the 
clerks in the outer office. To furnish good tables, stools, lockers, 
T-squares, and instruments which go to make the draftsman's work 
more efficient and agreeable seldom seems to enter the heads of the 
management. For one class of work a drafting machine would pay 
for itself in a few months. Again in other cases parallel rules, a set 
of special curves, a good protractor, a pantagraph, a planimeter, or 
slide rule would save an incalculable amount of time. How seldom 
these things are considered ! 

LIGHTING. One would think that the lighting system of a 
drafting-room would receive first consideration and it probably 
would in a new plant built at the present time under competent en- 
gineers or architects. However it is a fact that there are hundreds 
of drafting-rooms which are not fit for a man to work in without 
artificial light or even with it, as at present installed. Experts on 
lighting are not consulted though there is ample advice which may 
be had gratis from the lighting companies and the manufacturers. 
The proper way is to call in an illumination engineer who is not in- 
terested in the sale of any particular kind of lamps. Draftsmen are 
not capable of judging the proper kind of lights, altho they may 
have strong opinions, because not one per cent of them ever worked 
under a correct form of illumination. It is not possible for me to say 
what is correct because experts aver that every room requires a spe- 
cial treatment. However I can state that one thing which draftsmen 
should demand is a proper lighting system. A light which is bright, 
not a spot light, but well diffused. Positively no shadows on the 
drawing for the eyes are constantly strained when trying to see a line 
with shadows cast over it. I know of one railroad which refused 
positively to put in drop lights instead of high ceiling lights in a 
room in which some fifteen draftsmen worked. Much of the work 
was tracing and ruinous to the eyes. 

RULES. The rules in force in some of the various drafting- 
rooms would be amusing if they were not so tragic. It is amazing 
what freak traits of human nature are evidenced in their managment. 
Frequently one is reminded of a school-room instead of a drafting- 



WORKING CONDITIONS. 27 

room, then again of a machine shop, but seldom do the usual rules 
indicate that they are being applied to intelligent men. 

A chief draftsman forbade his men to talk to each other except 
on business. One would infer that those guilty of breaking this 
rule would be "kept in" after five o'clock and made to figure weights. 
It is a frequent practice among chief draftsmen to gum-shoe around 
the room when they see two or more talking together, presumably 
to assist them in their work, but in fact, as all know, to find out if the 
talk was social or business. Why is it that so many men will sacri- 
fice the respect of those under them by such petty, sleuthful tricks, 
when the information could be obtained so much easier and by more 
honorable methods? 

Any workman will invariably detect a sleuth or a spotter and 
when a chief draftsman will so lower the standing of his position as 
to sneak around to watch the men, his attitude is going to be reflect- 
ed back to him immediately with interest and the men will not only 
lose respect for him but will despise him as well. 

USE OF TELEPHONES. Some chief draftsmen worry a lot 
over telephone calls which come to the men and resort to novel 
means to prevent them being called up during working hours. In 
fact it is not uncommon to prohibit the use of telephones to drafts- 
men while the clerical force are permitted unlimited use. I recall a 
case in which the chief draftsman "listened in" on a phone conversa- 
tion and was rewarded by hearing one of his men condemning certain 
conditions under which he had to work. He was promptly dis- 
charged. A capable manager first investigates the conditions, then 
corrects them so his men will remain. At another place a chief was 
known to represent himself to be the draftsman wanted in hopes of 
catching information, — say, in regard to a man securing another po- 
sition. Then if such were the case, the draftsman was fired because 
he dared to want another position. 

HANDLING SUPPLIES. Rules for handling supplies are 
sometimes quite complicated and must have necessitated deep thought 
in their creation. For instance in order to get a new pencil one must 
return the stub of the old one and said stub must be under a certain 
established length. Others take the name of the draftsman each time 
a pencil or eraser is procured. A small set of books is kept, accu- 



28 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

rately recording the supplies of each man and how the office boy, 
who is usually in charge of supplies, delights to tell the draftsmen 
they are using too many pencils. It has always been a mystery to 
me how authority could be so perverted as to put the draftsmen in 
positions subservient to the clerks and even the office boy, but such 
is too often the case. One man in particular, a designer of a hundred 
million dollars worth of steel structures, has to quibble with a clerk 
for his pens and pencils. 

Supplies should be in charge of one of the responsible men but 
they should be dealt out freely. A man should be furnished with all 
the pens, pencils, etc., that he needs and even special instruments 
should be provided for individuals or for the general use of the office 
if there is need for them. They pay for themselves many times over 
and tend to make a workman more contended. Standard books in 
line with the work of the office should be kept accessible, and also 
several technical papers for the men to read at off hours. Entirely 
too much incompetent designing is done, a fact showing the lack of 
common every day knowledge which could be found in standard 
works and current magazines. 

Now if these supplies, comforts or accomodations for the men 
are being misused, then it is time to call to account the guilty ones, 
and not to consider all as criminals and treat them accordingly, as is 
the usual drafting-room method. An amazing lack of the knowledge 
of management is displayed by the manager who makes petty rules 
humiliating all his men when the rules should apply only to a few. 
To one with average intelligence and an average understanding of 
human nature, it should be little trouble to detect the man who was 
taking too many pencils or abusing other privileges. Many a draft- 
ing-room has been demoralized just because some chief draftsman 
was too stupid to know this simple fact. 

SMOKING. In regard to smoking in the drafting-room there is 
only one thing to do : Prohibit it. The reason for prohibiting smok- 
ing should be not so much because it takes time from the work (for 
some will go out and smoke anyway), not because it is unhealthy or 
unsanitary, but simply because it is not right to compel even one 
man to work among others who smoke if it is objectionable to him. 
Of course, if all wish to reek in smoke it is a different thing, or if 



WORKING CONDITIONS. 29 

only one or two occupy a room, the problem is iatn individual one. 
One chief draftsman has a rule which could have only been "de- 
signed" by a warped product of the drafting-room, stating that men 
must not smoke with this exception : "If the cigar or pipe has been 
lighted before the whistle blew the draftsman shall go to work, but 
may continue to smoke said pipe or cigar until it is sufficiently ex- 
hausted so that he may economically dispose of same." This is at 
least the substance of the rule. I presume long cigars were in de- 
mand, so that one could light up at 12:59 and smoke till about 3 
o'clock in the afternoon. 

TIME CLOCKS. Time clocks are an abomination in a drafting- 
room and a source of great dissatisfaction. Drafting-rooms may exist 
which claim to have success with time clocks and whose men seem 
quite contented to punch them morning, noon and night but an in- 
vestigation of such places would surely reveal one or these two things* 
perhaps both : — Either the management was mistaken in thinking 
they had men in the drafting-room when instead they had only boys, 
— boys in intellect if not in years, boys who had never known any- 
thing but a sort of slavery, never worked among real men, never 
heard of a vacation with pay, never knew anything but a time clock 
existence ; or else there was discontent and the management failed to 
find it. 

It is a peculiar thing but a fact nevertheless, that unless a man- 
ager is wide awake and knows human nature, he will seldom dis- 
cover the under current of opinion among his men until such time 
when it may break out openly. A manager who is handicapped with 
great self-esteem invariably makes this error because he creates a 
barrier between himself and his men which bars all intercourse. I 
once knew such a manager who even bragged about his 100% organ- 
ization when in fact there was as times great dissatisfaction and low 
morale, due as is frequently the case, to a subordinate. 

The argument for the time clock is that it facilitates the keeping 
of the time and acts as a check on the men. Granting however that 
it may assist somewhat in the work of a $50 per month timekeeper, 
it is a deep humiliation to a draftsman and tends to place him on a 
plane with irresponsible workmen ; it is an indication that the men 
are not considered honorable enough to turn in their own time cor- 



30 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

rectly ; it is an insult to a man's intelligence. One seldom thinks that 
what may be saved by a timekeeper is lost by the draftsman in telling 
his fellow workmen how much he likes to "punch a clock." Cer- 
tainly the morale of the men is lowered by these devices, which 
means that much less work is accomplished. 

PLACE MEN ON THEIR HONOR. The proper way to keep 
time is to have time cards which each man fills out himself accord- 
ing to the record desired for the paymaster and cost accountant. If 
men are placed on their honor almost all of them will be honorable, 
but if compelled to punch a clock (which means to them that the 
company does not consider them so), these very same men will find 
ways to beat the machine. 

As to keeping check on the men, this can be done by the chief 
draftsman, chief engineer, or the person in charge in a very simple 
manner, namely for the one in authority to know his men. He 
should know his workmen; know if they are capable of good work 
and of telling the truth. If there is any suspicion that a man is no: 
truthful or is without honor, then he should be watched and when 
found guilty, called to account. When I say a man should be watched 
I mean that it should be done in a very unobtrusive manner instead 
of employing means to find evidence which will convict the one whom 
it is desired to find guilty. 

WIDER VISION NECESSARY. Tact is a wonderful thing, a 
wonderfully rare thing in the engineering profession. We do not 
mix sufficiently with business men. We do not take part in the 
things which, although foreign to engineering work, are essential to 
an acquaintance with the vagaries of human nature. Engineers live 
too much to themselves, particularly office engineers. This con- 
finement tends to make men narrow minded and petty. Jealousy, 
spite work and all the little sins mortal man is heir to become magni- 
fied under close inspection. We must broaden out and look at the 
doughnut of Life instead of at the hole. Why do engineers stoop to 
such contemptible things as are frequently done? Because they start 
out by stooping over the drafting board. They strain over a worn- 
out scale. They squint at a begrimed slide rule. They curse over 
the fact that the union man gets more money than they do. They live 
and breathe this atmosphere until they absorb these qualities They 






WORKING CONDITIONS. 31 

become stooped and strained and discontented but under all there is 
a sincerity of purpose. There are no finer characters than the great, 
broad-minded engineers who have surmounted the minor details of 
the business and who now can get the proper perspective. 

LOYALTY OF DRAFTSMEN. Draftsmen are almost without 
exception, loyal to their employers, submitting even to the crudest 
systems of management. The draftsman is a conscientious worker 
but a poor business man because his thoughts are bent on his work 
and not upon the almighty dollar, as are his employer's. It is only 
recently that he has been forced to think about the dollar because of 
the rapidly increasing demands on his purse. As necessity has 
awakened him to this fact he looks around and finds common day 
laborers earning (?) as much as he does. He finds skilled labor re- 
ceiving six, eight and ten times as much. Is it any wonder there is 
unrest with the market price of brawn at $50 and brains at $5 per 
day? It is an actual fact that steel (designers were getting about $7 
per day while steel rollers with the same company were getting 
$52.50 per day. This is merely an interesting comparison to show 
the difference between an organized trade and un-organized pro- 
fession. 

INTOLERABLE CONDITIONS. There are some conditions 
which are intolerable and it is absolutely unnecessary that draftsmen 
submit to them any longer. One is discharging men on short notice. 
Thirty days is not too much time to give a man to enable him to se- 
cure other employment and it is up to the draftsmen to insist on get- 
ting it in order to reduce so far as possible the economic loss in- 
curred in making a change. I have in mind the case of a man who, 
feeling he would be let out, secured the offer of another position. 
His company however told him they wanted him to stay, so he re- 
mained. In two weeks he was "laid off" without any previous notice. 
It is with considerable restraint that I do not mention the name of 
the company for it is a notorious one in its methods of treating men. 
The latest symptom of dementia shown by this same company is to 
allow one hour's pay bonus per week but if a man is one minute late 
he is docked for 15 minutes and loses his week's bonus in addition. 
In this same class was the method of paying a certain bonus on the 
number of sheets of drawing turned out without regard to the amount 






32 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

of work on each sheet. This bright idea was installed toy a company 
which desired to show Uncle Sam how fast they were turning out the 
ship plans. The company has since failed which seems like just 
retribution to the ones guilty of the unprincipled, not to say treason- 
able, work. 

Chief draftsmen frequently hold positions on their seeming abil- 
ity to get work out of the men and not on their qualifications as man- 
agers, as should be the case. Quite naturally in such places we find 
conditions which that type of man approves. Men are promoted be- 
cause they are favorites with the chief and "take what he says." The 
office becomes undesirable from the standpoint of every man who 
has any self-respect. Likewise the company gets a bad name and is 
condemned whenever mentioned. The companies with such un- 
enviable reputations are numerous and the day will certainly come 
when it will be realized. Draftsmen can hasten the day by inform- 
ing themselves as to proper methods of conducting a drafting-room 
and then requesting that these methods be adopted. This will mean 
the advancement of the most competent. 

The space alloted to draftsmen in some places is of very meagre 
dimensions, even tho space may not be expensive in that location. 
You will find in some drafting-rooms today the actual measurement 
of floor space allowed for each man, not including the table space, 
to be not more than twenty inches by four feet. No doubt being in 
jail has its disadvantages but the convict has commodious quarters 
compared to the average draftsman. If a company can not make suf- 
ficient profit out of its drafting-room to enable it to furnish the drafts- 
man with proper accomodations such as lockers, towels, sanitation, 
ample room, good tables, with drawers, correct light, heat,pencils, 
pens, erasers, T-squares and paper, etc., it had better go out of busi- 
ness and let that company do the work which has an up-to-date 
management. 

NEEDED CHANGES. We have progressed and the old things 
must pass away. The workman is everywhere demanding his share 
of the profits and benefits derived from his work. Draftsmen have 
a right to demand justice under this most welcome new regime. 
They need at least two weeks vacation each year. They need life 
insurance, sick insurance, job insurance, and it is perhaps best that 



WORKING CONDITIONS. 33 

they receive sufficient pay to enable them to buy this rather than 
have it given to them. They need recognition of their services and 
higher pay. They need better management and they need to be 
better managers. They need an organization to get these things 
because under the intensive business methods and desire for in- 
creased production, it is evident that the needs of individuals are not 
supplied by charitable institutions. 

MORALE. There exists at present in most drafting-rooms an 
extremely low morale, a lack of the esprit de corps. There is also 
considerable "soldiering." This does not at all contradict the state- 
ment made in regard to the loyalty of the draftsmen, but reflects on 
the management which permits these conditions to exist. The word, 
morale, has come into prominence during the war. Every one knows 
that if the morale of an army is low its capabilities are greatly dim- 
inished. Morale means about the same as esprit de corps and in 
plain words both indicate the interest in the work at hand. At any 
rate so far as the drafting-room is concerned, the interest in the work 
is the principle, as it were, which underlies all the problems regard- 
ing working conditions. Why do so many draftsmen want to get 
out of the drafting-rooms, even out of the engineering business? 
Why do they all want to take up farming? Because they have lost 
all interest in the work. Every young man is interested in drafting 
when he first takes it up. Why do they lose this interest? Simply 
because of the abominable conditions, only a few of which have been 
mentioned. I could fill a book with instances if it would do any good. 
Thousands of draftsmen have been made nervous and many physical 
wrecks. I have seen them driven to drink. I know of some who 
joined the I. W. W. I have heard them discuss Bolshevism, favor- 
ably too, as the only means of correcting the conditions. There are 
socialists in most every drafting-room. I know they have been told 
and by engineers, "to go form a union, then we can deal with you." 
And right there we get the meat of the cocoanut. 

ENGINEERS RESPONSIBLE. It is the engineers, the men 
who style themselves the profession, who really are responsible for 
the draftsman's predicament. It is they who have tried to shove the 
draftsman out of the engineering profession and have actually made 
draftsmen, themselves, believe they do not belong there. This phrase, 



34 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

"Oh! he is only a draftsman/' is made a thousand times a day which 
naturally hits everyone doing drafting work. No amount of explain- 
ing can take the stigma off the designing draftsman and put it on the 
tracer. It is the most contemptible phrase in use today among en- 
gineers and not one who uses it ever looked in the dictionary to find 
out the correct definition of the word, engineer, which is, to state it 
again, "one engaged in engineering." It is slightingly inferred that 
drafting is at the bottom of engineering. To this I agree. Draft- 
ing is precisely where one would expect to find the foundation of 
engineering — at the bottom. 

THE REMEDY. It is evident that there are many things which 
go to create chaos in the drafting-rooms. It seems to be human na- 
ture to feel dissatisfied with one's own position in life, seeing only 
the thorns, while another's work seems to be all rosy. Now this dis- 
satisfaction, coupled with discontent, amounts to discouragement 
and discouragement is the worst handicap to progress that a man 
can experience. It is purely a mental condition and should never be 
allowed to gain a foothold in consciousness. The only way to prevent 
it is to uproot every evil which has a tendency to cause a lack of in- 
terest in one's work. You can not make a man like his work, but you 
can make conditions agreeable so that he will like it and take an 
interest in it. To carry the proposition to its ultimate conclusion it 
is possible to have every man like his work provided the fundamen- 
tal causes which make a man dislike it are discovered. It can not be 
done by adopting the strong arm methods of a union, by plunging the 
country into an I. W. W. or Bolshevik revolution, by anarchy, or 
blood shed, but it can be accomplished only by charitable and un- 
selfish endeavor. Furthermore it is being done and a number of man- 
ufacturing plants are working in almost perfect harmony and with 
contented employees. They are all coming to it. 

SIGNS OF PROGRESS. Drafting-rooms which are laboring 
with complicated systems of filing might profit by investigating such 
long established concerns as, for instance, the Baldwin Locomotive 
Works, of Philadelphia. Twenty years ago this company was using 
a method of handling drawings in their office and shops which would 
put to shame many that are in use today. 



WORKING CONDITIONS. 35 

With a desire to lift the draftsman out of his limited sphere, the 
Chicago office of the Robins Conveying Belt Co., has established a 
class in art for its draftsmen. The class is held once a week and is 
given one hour's personal instruction at the Art Institute without 
charge. This is a long step in the right direction. 

The bridge department of the Southern Railway, Washington, 
D. C, a number of years ago, recognized their draftsmen to the ex- 
tent of giving them titles of "assistant engineers." Draftsmen on 
other railroads should ask for this recognition also. 

The American Bridge Co., have in some of their plants adopted 
a commendable scheme for retaining draftsmen during dull times. 
It is by simply working shorter hours. When there is a decrease in 
the amount of work it is far better to distribute the loss among the 
whole force than to make a few suffer for it. 

The Willys-Overland plant of Toledo and the Link Belt Co. of 
Philadelphia and Chicago may be taken as examples of offices 
equipped with drafting machines. All others not using these labor 
saving devices are certainly behind the times. 






CHAPTER IV. 
MANAGEMENT. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MANAGEMENT. 

LACK OF INFORMATION. Customary forms of management 
for drafting-rooms leave much to be desired. Little has t>een written 
on this subject, except as may have been intended to expose such 
unsatisfactory conditions as have already been mentioned. Engineers 
have been prolific in their books on industrial management, control 
system, production and scientific management, but the work shop of 
the engineer himself seems always to have been overlooked. The 
books on the principles of scientific management and efficiency are 
legion and so much has been said on these subjects that is un- 
scientific and tends to cause inefficiency, that the terms have be- 
come odious to many people ; particularly the word, efficiency, which 
will not in the next century be aible to free itself from the general 
idea of its being something German. German efficiency is now per- 
fectly understood to indicate the ultimate in human slavery, the 
suppression of all individuality for the attainment of a purpose, 
which was world supremacy. Sufficiency, not efficiency, was the 
real trouble with the Germans. This subject is recalled only as a 
warning that we do not fall into the same pit and in our desire to be 
proficient and more efficient, become instead, sufficient. Neither 
must we countenance any systems which prevent full development of 
the individual nor suppress his inventive and creative abilities. 

EFFICIENCY vs. ECONOMY. In place of the obnoxious word, 
efficiency, I prefer to use the plain old-fashioned word, economy. It 
is good enough for our purpose and when we, as a nation, learn (as 
we did somewhat during the war) what economy is, then it will be 
time enough to talk about efficiency. As for scientific management 
we want that of course in the drafting-rooms, but not some foolish 
mortal's idea of what constitutes scientific management. Scientific 
must indicate something correct. It is therefore the highest develop- 
ment in, or the nearest to the correct form of, management that we 
desire. 



40 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT. In every problem in scientific 
management due credit should be given to the late Frederick W. 
Taylor, whose pioneer experiments in this field are of inestimable 
value. They are valuable because he discovered and established 
certain fundamental principles which have been the basis of all later 
studies along this line. In order that a machinist may do his work 
with the greatest degree of efficiency, Mr. Taylor found that there 
are twelve variable factors constituting a problem which has to be 
solved previous to starting an operation of metal cutting. All these 
factors pertain to the cutting of the material, the tools used or speed 
of machine, etc., and the machinist is considered a constant coeffi- 
cient in all cases. Now the work of a draftsman and that of a mach- 
inist is entirely different. The difference comes in the machinist be- 
ing a workman skilled in physical labor while a draftsman is one 
skilled chiefly in brain work and only to a certain extent in physical 
labor. This is contrary to the prevailing idea of a draftsman's work, 
but the fact remains that his work is almost entirely mental. 

So when it comes to determining the efficiency of a draftsman's 
work Ave may have 1200 variable factors instead of 12 and as the 
mental capacity varies with each person we may have 1200 variables 
in each individual case. The mental efficiency of a man may depend 
upon most anything in his daily life or past experience, from what 
he had to eat for breakfast to what place he went to school. It is 
therefore practically impossible to gage a draftsman's economic 
standard in the same way by which that of a machinist's is obtained. 

Furthermore the Taylor system is so dangerously near to making 
a man a human machine that it is out of place in a drafting-room. 
There is quite enough of this human machinery about now, built by 
"slave drivers." After all conditions are analyzed it will be seen that 
what the draftsmen really want, what every one wants, is a square 
deal. Ethics is a word which has come to indicate hypocrisy among 
engineers, but which if properly applied will not only solve the prob- 
lem of working conditions but the one of proper management of 
drafting-rooms as well. Ethics is the principle of right action, square 
deal, justice. We want ethics applied. 

ETHICS APPLIED. In order to apply ethics in the manage- 
ment of the drafting-room, an understanding of what is right is re- 



MANAGEMENT. 41 

quired, and a knowledge of how to apply this understanding as well. 
It is evident that better managers are needed, otherwise such un- 
satisfactory conditions would not exist. One reason for poor man- 
agers is because the salaries usually paid to chief draftsmen are not 
sufficient to get good managers. Another reason is that schools do 
not produce managers, nor is sufficient importance given to this 
work in engineering. At present it is most difficult if not actually 
impossible to obtain capable managers as chief draftsmen. Therefore 
they will have to be trained. 

THE MANAGER OR CHIEF DRAFTSMAN. A manager 
should be broad-minded, capable, able to command respect and be 
above petty jealousies. He must use tact and discretion in handling 
the problems which come up. If he is a good manager his men will 
like as well as respect him. He must have no favorites. He must 
be free from the minor details and be accessible at all times to those 
in his charge. Many chief draftsmen seem to think that their most 
important work is looking after the mailing of blue prints instead of 
devoting their time to managing an office. The best test of any 
management is the fact that the employees like their work and re- 
spect the "boss." 

It seems to be the usual thing, when discussing labor problems 
to entirely forget those who furnish the money which makes busi- 
ness possible. However the above test will stand for when men like 
their work and are interested in it there will be production and 
economy ; hence it is a square deal for the men, the manager, and the 
company. 

Drafting-rooms should have distinct lines of promotion and each 
man be made to understand just where his position in the organiza- 
tion is. The last man to be employed naturally is at the bottom of 
the ladder but this is no reason why he should not b>e promoted over 
the other men provided he has the qualifications. The injustice comes 
when one who obviously does not deserve it, is stepped over an- 
other. This happens when the manager plays favorites or when there 
is a stockholder's son who must be advanced. In any case it is poor 
judgement. 

Drafting-room forces are usually divided into squads and in or- 
der to handle any amount of work it is necessary to divide the author- 



42 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

ity as well as the responsibility. Ten men is sufficient number for 
one squad. Sometimes a chief draftsman assumes all the authority 
but is ever ready to shift the responsibility when errors occur. That 
there is gross mis-management no one can deny who has the slight- 
est knowledge of conditions, but before complaining too much about 
the "chief," it might be well for every draftsman to ask himself, 
"Could I do any better?" 

MISMANAGEMENT. It seems strange that in engineering 
offices careless and indifferent management exists where one would 
expect to find everything in mathematical order and precision. Re- 
cently I met a young engineer carrying a small grip. He told me he 
had to carry his drafting instruments home every night because there 
was no place in the office to leave them. This was in the office of 
one of the prominent engineers of the country. Thus in the home of 
efficiency we find the ultimate of inefficiency. Every office has its 
own model system of filing drawings and no two are alike. Most 
of them seem to be worked out with the idea of hiding drawings 
rather than filing them for future reference. Methods of making up 
the pay-roll are frequently even more complicated than the filing 
systems. 

One o'clock closing on Saturday has always seemed to me a 
method of trying to get a day's work out of the men while giving 
them a half-holiday at the same time. If it is to be a half-holiday 
then the office should close at twelve o'clock, allowing men to get 
their lunch at the usual hour. Draftsmen rarely accomplish any 
work between twelve and one anyway. Holidays are similarly grant- 
ed, with strings to them. The men are not notified in advance, there- 
fore can make no plans and the holiday does them no good. The 
company loses their time and the men gain nothing. 

These things are mentioned because they are positively unneces- 
sary sources of discontent. Engineers mismanage their own affairs 
and the men under them because they are largely ignorant of systems 
of management which have proven to be correct or scientific in prin- 
ciple. There is now practically a standard wage for draftsmen al- 
though it is not uncommon to see one man perform 100% more 
work than the man by his side. To pay a worker in proportion to 
the work performed is a fundamental principle in scientific manage- 



MANAGEMENT. 43 

ment. Every one knows that unionism has stood for the standard 
wage as against scientific management. Therefore every engineer 
who has not helped to enforce this principle has been, on the other 
hand, supporting the standard of unions. 

FOREIGNERS IN THE DRAFTING-ROOM. One other 
condition in the engineering field should be uncovered in all its shame^ 
namely, the situation concerning foreigners or at least near-foreigners, 
un-Americans. A number of cases have come to my notice where 
foreign engineers, even enemies, have been given preference over 
Americans, preference to which no superior qualities entitled them. 
Two reasons may 'be given for this : first, that foreigners will work 
as a rule much cheaper and second, that a number of executive posi- 
tions are held by foreign engineers. It does not seem possible that 
a loyal company would during the war allow its engineering depart- 
ment to delay the output of war work through the employment of 
disloyalists. Yet such was the case and in one instance it was not 
discovered until the work was several weeks behind. The method 
was of German simplicity. The draftsmen started to work on the 
roof of the building first. 

Now all this may be criticised as being pessimistic; however 
one cannot take an optimistic view of the engineering field and ignore 
these undesirable conditions. They must be exposed and when com- 
pletely exposed to view, they are partially destroyed. The fault lies 
with the management and the management must be so informed in 
no uncertain terms. The work of drafting is too vitally important to 
be mismanaged. 

TRACING DRAWINGS. It is an open question whether or not 
it is advisable for every draftsman to completely finish and trace his 
own drawings. It is certainly true that this method would often be 
more economical, because of the tracer's many possible mistakes 
which have to be checked, changed and corrected; all taking time 
and costing more in the end, than if the drawing had been finished 
by the one who made it. Then again the detailer or designer is 
frequently able to outline his work in pencil and finish it in ink on 
the cloth at a great saving of time. In comparing the two ways, it 
will be found that the experienced man will trace his own work in 
one-half to one-fourth the time of the ordinary tracer; he will make 



44 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

fewer mistakes and cause less time for checking and correcting. 
Since the tracer ordinarily earns about one-half to one-fourth the 
salary of the detailer, there is nothing saved when it takes him twice 
as long to make the tracing as it does the detailer, not to mention 
the other items. No iron-clad rule can be made in regard to the 
tracing of drawings because every office has its own peculiar con- 
ditions and requires special attention. There are lines of work where 
it is no doubt economical to have tracers to trace the drawings, but 
they should always be students or beginners. 

CHECKING DRAWINGS. Great responsibility is frequently 
placed on the draftsman. Even the detailer should realize the im- 
portance attached to his work for even though it may be checked, 
the checking is only done to catch possible errors. Accuracy is the 
first consideration. Whether the mistake is overlooked or not, it 
was made by the detailer and therefore he is responsible for it. Of 
course the final responsibility of the work rests upon the one who 
last goes over it but no detailer should ever depend upon a checker 
to catch his mistakes. His drawing should be finished and correct 
as far as can be reasonably expected. 

All glaring errors should be caught as well as any which would 
entail considerable expense. A detailer should always take time to 
look over his drawing before it leaves his hand and check the most 
important dimensions or the basic figures. This tends to eliminate 
at the start any prominent mistakes. He should also, especially if 
careless tracers are in vogue in his office, always compare his draw- 
ing with the tracing to see if all figures and lines are copied correctly. 

This review work on the part of the detailer pays for itself. 
When it is not done (and this is more often the case than otherwise) 
it is the fault of the management. To rush work thru the drafting- 
room is very poor business. This review work may consume but a 
few minutes or perhaps an hour or more, but the idea is, that the 
drawing should go to the checker as nearly right as possible. It is 
permissible to "leave for the checker" only the things of minor im- 
portance such as the mere addition of figures. It is sometimes per- 
missible to leave them for the templet maker or machinist or field 
engineer but only when there is harmony between these parties and 
they are in close proximity, such as in a very small shop. 



MANAGEMENT. 45 

Some checkers have a practice of falsely marking a figure on a 
drawing in order to see if the detailer is back-checking the drawing 
before making the changes. Permit no subterfuges to detect one's 
trustworthiness. Meet the situation face to face and not by sneak- 
thief methods. 

It is impossible to fix hard and fast rules to govern drafting and 
draftsmen. All engineering as soon as it gets beyond the absolute 
mechanical formulae is a matter of judgement and experience. There- 
fore it becomes necessary to have men in charge of drafting-rooms 
who possess good judgement and have had broad experience. 

I have, suggested that the mechanical tracer, that is, the man or 
girl who has no desire or ambition or ability to progress in technical 
engineering, be eliminated. If this is done there will be left in the 
drafting-rooms only those who already possess or are acquiring a 
technical education. This will at once solve some of the problems 
of management. 

TURNOVER. Probably the worst feature in the present man- 
agement of drafting-rooms is the "labor turnover". It is appalling 
when the class of work is considered. The "turnover" indicates the 
frequency with which the force is turned over or replaced and it is 
not unusual to find places where there is 100% turnover, meaning 
that new men were employed during the year equal to the average 
number in the office throughout the year. There are hundreds of 
shops which will not permit such a high percentage even among the 
laborers and if it were to happen some officials would lose their job's. 
Many times the turnover would be made a lot quicker except for the 
fact that the men knew of no better place to go so they remained. 

The financial management evidently knows nothing about these 
conditions ; if they did they surely would be looking for some higher- 
class chief engineers or chief draftsmen. A few figures will show 
why. Suppose an office with an average force of twenty men should 
lose during the year twenty men and employ twenty more. At a very 
minimum, it would cost that company $100 to break in each new 
man, making a total of $2000 per year. Now if the company would 
take this sum and add it to the $2000 which it is throwing away on 
the chief draftsman it would have the sum of $4000 which would be 
nearly sufficient to get a good manager. We need a better class of 



46 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

men for chief draftsmen, — not the type who hold their positions 
thru their ability to drive men, but the kind who can get the work 
accomplished without driving them. 

FOOLISH EFFICIENCY. Various absurd attempts have been 
made to introduce methods of efficiency (so called) in the drafting- 
rooms. The men responsible for these rules have the most casual 
acquaintance with the true principles of economic management and 
their limited knowledge does more damage than would absolute 
ignorance. Would anybody want to ride in a railroad train with a 
man in the cab who had never been over the road before and had 
only a "casual acquaintance" with the signals? It is the same with 
these self-sufficient individuals who tinker with problems of scien- 
tific management without an understanding of the fundamentals in- 
volved. 

In my cub days I was employed in a drafting-room where all 
were forbidden to draw dotted lines in making the pencil drawings. 
A full line naturally can be made much quicker and saves time. As 
I remember in looking back at those engine designs, drawn all in 
full lines, and then think of the hours I used to spend trying to pick 
out of that mystic maze some part of the machine in order to make a 
shop detail, — well it was good training but doubtful economy. 

Quite recently, I was informed of another concern which re- 
quires draftsmen to follow a similiar procedure : when making a long 
line with a T-square, say from left to right, in order to save any 
extra movements the T-square must be shifted to another position 
and a second line be drawn from right to left as the arm returns to 
the first position. I would not believe it possible for an engineer to 
give such a ridiculous order, if I did not know of other cases equally 
foolish. 

THE SLIP-STICK TABOOED. In some railroad offices for 
instance the use of a slide rule or planimeter is riot allowed in cal- 
culating cross sections. Let me explain to the unitiated that a "cross 
section" in railroad parlance is simply a section of the road bed in a 
cut or on an embankment and the points of elevation are taken with 
the level, reading only to tenths of a foot, which is sufficiently ac- 
curate to answer all requirements. The object being to determine 
the cubic yards of material excavated or hauled. A planimeter is a 



MANAGEMENT. 47 

small instrument which will give the area of any regular or irregular 
surface by simply tracing the outline with a pointer. This can be 
done in a few seconds, whereas it takes many minutes or even hours 
to calculate the same area. Likewise the slide rule sometimes may 
be used to great advantage on this and other classes of work. The 
party who stated that the railroads could save a million dollars a day 
surely must have been familiar with common drafting-room practices, 
but the railroads do not seem to profit by the advice because there 
are scores of draftsmen at this time, still figuring "cross sections" 
long hand on the government valuation work. The situation is 
enough to discourage the invention of labor saving devices. 

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL LABOR. The methods applied to 
laborers or skilled tradesmen will not do in scientific management of 
the drafting-room. We are dealing with an entirely different kind 
of work. Taylor, himself, says that in his law of physical labor the 
more stupid a man is, the more nearly the law is fulfilled, showing 
conclusively that as the work becomes all mental, the law is in- 
applicable. Of course time studies could be made of draftsmen and 
methods devised of doing the mechanical work with the least num- 
ber of movements, and in the quickest time, but of what value would 
the results be? They would only apply to about 1/10 of the drafts- 
man's work, while the 9/10 or the mental part is neglected. Where 
would be the economy in teaching a man how to save a fraction of a 
minute in the operation of drawing a line while he is so constituted 
that he loses hours in trying to decide where that line is to be 
placed? 

TIME STUDIES vs. WORK STUDIES. Valuable studies 
however can be made to determine if the work performed by the men 
is necessary or whether the best systems are being followed in per- 
forming it. For instance, I have a blue print of an ordinary structural 
drawing showing shop details of plate and angle work. The sheet 
is 36" by 42" and only comfortably full. By counting enough to 
estimate the balance, I found that there were some 2100 numerals, 
800 letters and 1500 lines, not to mention inch marks, circles, dotted 
lines, cross hatching, etc., on this one sheet. A little well directed' 
thought on the part of the draftsman would enable him to save some 
of these numerals, — perhaps 5% of them, but the drawing was well 



48 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

made according to the practice of that office and all the numerals 
which could have been saved is a negative factor. 

Now assume a new manager should look at this drawing. If he 
knows something about managing he would readily see that the 
great bulk of these 2100 numerals and 1500 lines were unnecessary 
and represented a great loss of time. A little cooperation between 
the drafting-room and shop would make it possible to draw such 
plans with about 20% of the effort required to make the one in ques- 
tion, transferring to the shop a little extra work. 

This additional work thrown on the shop (which in this parti- 
cular case would be the templet or pattern shop) is brain work. The 
templet maker would have to think a little more, becoming thereby, 
more interested in his work. He would not feel that the draftsman 
considers him an ignorant workman. With this greater interest in 
the work, comes a greater content. Being more contented, he turns 
out more work. "Greater production" is sounded constantly into the 
ears of workmen, sufficient to drive them to join the I. W(on't) 
W(orks), but how few there are who understand that increased pro- 
duction will never prove economical if the interest is thereby taken 
out of the work. The tendency should be to make men think about 
their work, not to have others do it all for them. This is why draft- 
ing is one of the most interesting of occupations, — it is all thinking, 
scheming, planning. Draftsmen lose interest in their work only after 
awakening to the fact that for years they have been exploited and 
have as -a result become bankrupt and social inferiors. I have gone 
on record in the technical journals as stating that at present from 
25% to 50% too much drafting is done. A change will come about 
gradually and when once the profession educates the public to the 
necessity, thousands of positions will open up which will demand 
the services of these men as engineers and managers. 



CHAPTER V. 
EMPLOYMENT. 






CHAPTER V. 

EMPLOYMENT. 

TEMPORARY NATURE OF DRAFTING. Owing to the tem- 
porary nature of their work, draftsmen are compelled to change 
positions more or less frequently. No general statement applies to 
ll branches of engineering and altho there are many manufacturing 
ifants which are able to keep their draftsmen on the pay-roll even 
luring dull times, the majority are not. For instance, a construction 
ompany secures a contract requiring a large drafting force. The 
-raftsmen are procured but when all the plans are completed, their 
vork is finished. Unless the company obtains another contract at 
his time, it can hardly be expected to retain its employees indefinite- 
y. Again if the concern is a manufacturing company with a steady 
msiness ordinarily it would be folly for it to keep a large drafting 
orce over an extended period with no work for them. To these com- 
panies engaged in the uncertain business of engineering and con- 
racting, which desire to give their employees just treatment, con- 
ideration is due for the many difficulties with which they have to 
. ontend. 

DRAFTSMAN NOT DAY LABORERS. Companies need only 

d understand that draftsmen are not day laborers and that the re- 

ponsibility of their work demands that they be given somewhat 

.igher consideration. Now those employers of draftsmen who hire 

aid fire men with no thought whatsoever for the responsibility of 

their work nor for the value of the service which they have rendered, 

should be accorded scant courtesy. Many times when a force of 

draftsmen is laid off the company could well afford to keep them 

employed in some way until another contract was secured. I know 

>f a case where men were laid off one day and on the next day a 

new contract was secured by the company and they were asked to 

return. How ridiculous it is to conduct a business on such a short 

sighted policy. 



52 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

TRAINING REQUIRED. It takes many months for a drafts- 
man to become familiar with a line of work at a cost to the employer 
of several hundred dollars, and then the moment the work runs so 
short that this man's services can be dispensed with, he is laid off. 
No regrets are mentioned. No acknowledgement made for the good 
service rendered. No hope expressed that work would come in so 
that he might soon return. A dishonorable discharge, as it were, 
with the dishonor not on the man, however, but on the chief drafts- 
man or chief engineer who possesses so little conscience, so little of 
that fraternal spirit which should exist between men in the same 
work. Yes, and so little knowledge of the proper way of handling 
men. It is astonishing that the financial heads of companies allow 
conditions like this to exist. They do exist, however, and all too 
frequently. 

ORGANIZATION NECESSARY. If draftsmen were organ- 
ized they could correct such a condition by informing the head of 
the company, the one who is responsible to the stockholders, that 
such a policy was both a losing one for his company and most un- 
satisfactory to the draftsman. Of course, employers are just as 
human, and just as stubborn, perhaps, as the rest, of us, and when 1 
they cannot see a thing is right and just, sometimes it is necessary 
to force the issue in another way. An organization is essential be- 
cause an individual can do practically nothing alone. A union is not 
necessary, that is to say, a union which advocates continual strikes 
and boycotts. However a national organization could with more or 
less publicity rectify any condition which was not right. There is 
nothing so distasteful to people in general as adverse publicity. In 
such cases the draftsmen would avoid that company as surely as if 
a boycott were declared, and it would not be long before the publi- 
city would have an effect on the business of the comany. So it is 
evident that draftsmen have all the power in the world if they but 
organize and chose to exercise it. Let us hope that it will always be 
exercised for good, and good only. 

SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. Since draftsmen must change 
their positions rather frequently it behooves them to study ways 
and means of procuring new positions and to avoid the loss of in- 



EMPLOYMENT. 53 

come so far as possible between positions. Draftsmen like most all 
engineers are poor salesmen, but selling their services is a very im- 
portant matter. Here are a few points to observe when applying for 
a position by letter: 

1. Have the letter typewritten. Use a printed letter head of 
your own if possible or of your present company. Do not 
use cheap looking paper. 

2. Start the letter by commanding the attention of the reader 
and close, leaving him with the impression that he needs just 
such a man as you. 

3. Make your letter short and to the point. Always tell the 
truth. Never state your present salary, — state your future 
salary. 

4. Have a concise statement of your experience always on hand 
and up-to-date. This is a most valuable thing to send an 
employer and the most important selling point you have. 

The above ideas convey only elementary advice but it is advice 
that is very badly needed by draftsmen. They are notoriously care- 
less in these matters even when it is vitally important for them to 
secure work. Many good men have lost out because they lacked an 
understanding of these simple facts. 



54 



THE DRAFTSMAN. 



SAMPLE LETTER OF APPLICATION. 



Chicago, 111., Jan. 1, 1919. 

The Lake Shore Steel Co., 
Gary, Ind. 

Dear Sirs : - 

Please consider my application for the 
position of structural draftsman adver- 
tised in the "Daily News". 

My experience in this line has been 
varied and practical, a summary of which 
is enclosed on a separate sheet. 

Inspection work and observation in the 
shops has given me a familiarity with out- 
side methods and I feel competent to eco- 
nomically detail or design any ordinary 
steel structure, or to take charge of 
squad. 

Trusting that you are paying the cus- 
tomary rates on this class of work for one 
of my experience, I will therefore expect 
a salary of $4200 per year and will be 
available two weeks after acceptance. 

Yours truly, 



524 La Salle St. 



JOHN JONES 



EMPLOYMENT. 55 



RECORD OF EXPERIENCE. 

JOHN JONES, 524 La Salle St. Chicago, 111 

Age 30. Married. American born. 

Graduate Technical High School. 

3 years Civil Engineering at Univ. of 111 

y 2 year rodman, C. B. & Q. Ry . 

l l / 2 years instrumentman on location and con 
struction, C. M. & St. P. Ry. 

3 years drafting. Details, layouts, de- 
signs and estimates on steel and con- 
crete and general civil engineering. 
Occasional outside inspections. With 
H &H . engineers and architects. 

2 years drafting. Detailing and checking 

on bridges and buildings with 

Bridge Co. 

1 year in charge of squad about six men. 
Heavy bridge work. With same company. 

8 years total practical experience. 



56 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

THE EMPLOYER'S VIEWPOINT. When writing an ap- 
plication consider the position of an employer. He is a busy man. 
He receives many applications. His notice is attracted to a neat, 
typewritten page and if he finds the qualities there that he is look- 
ing for, why should he look further? He does not, and the other 
letters are "filed", which may mean filed in some places and the 
waste basket in others, but it amounts to the same thing to the man 
out of a position. It should not be very difficult for any drafts- 
man to get his letter typewritten. It may incur a trifling expense 
but it is worth it. In fact it is to one's advantage to get advice on 
letter writing from experts, who can usually be found, as can typists, 
in the typewriter supply houses. 

PROMISCUOUS LETTER WRITING. The promiscuous 
writing of letters to business concerns should be discouraged be- 
cause it cheapens the profession. Chief engineers actually receive 
hundreds of applications of all kinds, not hundreds in a year, but 
sometimes hundreds in a week. Of course they are seldom seen by 
the chief, as a clerk or possibly the office boy, has a blanket order to 
answer them thus : "There are no positions open at present but we 
will file your application and notify you if anything turns up." Many 
an otherwise intelligent man has been buoyed up by such a false 
hope. In most cases these applications are filed and never referred 
to. When the company wants a draftsman the first one who comes 
along is employed, or if none appear, it will advertise. 

It is almost a waste of time and effort to seek a position unless 
you have some clue to a vacancy or perhaps have a personal friend 
who will reply to your letter. Sometimes a suggestion can be found 
under "New Construction" in the engineering papers, then your let- 
ter can be stated thus : "I read in the News that your com- 
pany is about to start construction" etc. If a mutual friend can be 
found and his name used in the letter it will almost always bring 
a courteous reply. It may be a subterfuge but if the truth is stated 
it is permissable. 

APPLICATION BLANKS. Application blanks present a pro- 
blem with which it is hard to deal. They are undoubtedly a nui- 
sance to every draftsman. Every company has its own forms and 






EMPLOYMENT. 57 



applicants usually have to fill them out before receiving any con- 
sideration. The draftsman is at a disadvantage because he is the 
"beggar", so to speak, and can not be the "chooser". 

On the whole an application form contains a great amount of 
useless information which no employer ever wants, reads or verifies, 
but they may require considerable time in filling out. If a man 
wishes to apply in a number of places he must go through the ordeal 
for each one. These blanks frequently have a column for salaries re- 
ceived in former positions. This is not a square deal for the ap- 
plicant. Does any company ever tell its cost prices to a competitor? 
Do they ever divulge the inner secrets of their business to any one 
who may ask? Then what right has any employer to request a pros- 
pective employee to tell the very thing which he should keep secret, 
— i. e. — "salary in last position" or "present salary"? Why should 
this question be asked except for the purpose of taking advantage of 
the one seeking the position? My advice is never to lose this advan- 
tage but state your price and make it exactly what you think your 
services to be worth. It is a very common thing for draftsmen to 
ask for a salary much less than they are worth and sometimes less 
than the company is willing to pay. A company can hardly be ex- 
pected to pay more than asked. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. Recommendations are a farce nine 
times out of ten. Employers ask applicants to give recommenda- 
tions or to name two or three past employers, professors or friends 
as references, largely because it is the customary thing to do. Now 
everybody knows that any young man can get one or a dozen to 
"recommend" him for a position and many, many times the recom- 
mendor laughs up his sleeve at the joke on the prospective employer. 
Frequently the lad who was lowest in his class at college and whom 
the professor blushes to recommend, proves to be the very best kind 
of a workman while the head of the class cannot hold down a second- 
rate position. 

Any man who has acquired some years of experience can like- 
wise procure recommendations because it is seldom that an employ- 
er will state anything to the detriment of a former employee, and 
rightly so. Any such black mark on a man's record is almost im- 



58 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

possible to efface and will discourage him if he really desires to be- 
come a better workman. I once knew a man who boasted of the 
ex-convict which he engaged. This man had charity, or love for his 
fellow man, in his heart. If a draftsman is discharged because of a 
serious mistake, it is no reason why he should be refused an op- 
portunity to get along in another position. In fact if he profits by 
his mistake he will be a better man than before. 

When the man to be employed is an executive, his record can 
easily be investigated by the interested party if the importance of 
the position warrants it. If however it be a draftsman who is to 
work in a subordinate position the man should be accepted and em- 
ployed on his own word and without bothering a lot of busy execu- 
tives, for references about which they know nothing and care less. 
If the chief draftsman is a competent manager he can tell in the 
course of a few days at the most whether the new man is capable 
or not. An incompetent chief may however, (I have seen it happen 
many times) allow a draftsman to work for weeks or months with- 
out any particular supervision, only to discover finally that his work 
was so full of errors that it all had to be done over. 

ADVERTISEMENTS. In regard to answering advertisements 
for positions it is difficult to advise for there are all kinds of freaks 
employing draftsmen and a well written letter may go wide of the 
mark, whereas the "cheap" looking letter against which I have ad- 
vised, may appeal to the limited bank roll of the concern advertising. 
Some will accept the applicant who offers to work for the lowest 
sum. Others wil do just the opposite and take the one who asks the 
most, believing that they are thereby getting the best. The condi- 
tions will remain uncertain until engineering in general is raised to 
a higher plane. 

Advertising under "situations wanted" is an excellent way to 
obtain a position when any answers to the ads are received. It gives 
the applicant a far greater advantage to have a company write first, 
in answer to an advertisement. Fifty letters writen in answer to 
"help wanted" ads may not bring a single reply but one answer to 
a "situation wanted" ad may mean a position. Unfortunately a small 
percentage of the latter class of ads are ever answered. If it is a 



EMPLOYMENT. 59 

dull period they are few indeed but in busy times undoubtedly 
many good positions are secured that way. Generally speaking the 
expense of advertising represents a considerable waste of money and 
effort. If the same amount were invested in an organization which 
cared for the employment of its members it would be much more 
satisfactory for all concerned. The employee would know where 
there was any chance whatever of securing work without writing 
letters or filling out applications or making personal interviews. The 
employer likewise would know where to find the class of men he 
wanted. 

"JOB" HUNTING. One of the most pernicious habits of 
draftsmen when out of work, is to "go the rounds" of the engineer- 
ing offices, asking, even begging, for a job. If there is a personal 
friend in the office, ask for him and find out if there is any prospect 
before calling on the chief draftsman. One on the inside can always 
give some idea of the conditions and if there is not some hint as to 
a possible vacancy it is very bad policy to interview the boss. The 
reason is this: draftsmen calling frequently on busy men about po- 
sitions is an annoyance. It cheapens drafting. It actually keeps 
salaries down. 

For instance, say 100 draftsmen are let out in a large city as is 
not an infrequent occurrence. They make a mad scramble for new 
positions. If there are 100 offices in the business district, each of 
the 100 men may call at each office in about a week's time. The 
case is not an extreme one, for there are times when ten men a day 
will call in one office, seeking positions. Naturally a chief drafts- 
man becomes somewhat disgusted. Since he is apt to meet and 
talk with other chief draftsmen, each will compare notes about the 
"job-hunters" and the impression is exaggerated until they estimate 
1000 men out of work, instead of 100. 

Naturally also these chief draftsmen size up the men and per- 
chance take one or two who are willing to work for about $100 per 
month. It is useless to vent our wrath on either party because they 
are both lacking in moral stamina, Since men are so weak morally 
it is necessary that some form of organization compel them to live 
up to the ethical ideals of the best. \t is for their good as well as for 



i 



60 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

the good of all. Some form of prices must be maintained to prevent 
this suicidal process. 

RETAIN DRAFTSMEN IF POSSIBLE. Companies should 
make every effort to prevent the flooding of the market with 
draftsmen. However they will do so only, when they have wide 
awake managers who understand how costly it is to hire and fire 
men, or when pressure is brought to bear through an organization. 
Men can be put on part time if times are very dull and it is neces- 
sary to suffer some inconvenience. In this way they can keep the 
wolf from the door and save the expense of moving to a new place 
till times become better. Companies which deliberately lower the 
salaries of men while keeping them at work the same number of 
hours justly earn the contempt of their employees, except of course 
when economic conditions of the country change. They should en- 
deavor to find work in neighboring plants, even of competitors if 
possible, for their draftsmen, with the idea in view of having them 
return when the time is propitious. Have an understanding that the 
men are "loaned" if is agreeable to the draftsmen. 

SELLING SERVICES. I am not one who believes that tech- 
nical men should sacrifice any considerable amount of time to the 
study of salesmanship in order to sell their services. If too much 
time is devoted to this, when one has no desire to become a sales- 
man, then there is an economic loss. A certain amount of attention 
must be given to the business end of drafting but if the best de- 
gree of the engineering is to be obtained, efforts should be concen- 
trated on this work and not upon acquiring positions by the science 
of salesmanship. 

Therefore the positions and salaries of these men should be 
protected for the sake of their families if nothing else. It is advis- 
able to read books on selling, and writing letters, etc., but do not 
neglect the technical papers and current articles in connection with 
the work. There must be an organization to handle the welfare and 
business matters. Dues paid into the organization will give the 
needed protection to draftsmen, provided they take sufficiently 
active part in it to see that it is run properly and not for the selfish 
interests of a few. 



EMPLOYMENT. 61 



the publication of the American Association of Engineers, appeared 
an article by the writer in which is was stated that the employment 
agencies were taking more money out of the pockets of the engineers 
than was being paid into the big national engineering societies. This 
statement has since been given nation-wide publicity in circulars 
and I have yet to hear of it being disputed. This sum if put into 
one national organization would solve the employment problem for 
all engineers. 

The employment agencies are a cause of great humiliation to 
draftsmen. Men are compelled to go to the agencies at times when 
starvation stares them in the face. It is then the applicant learns of 
the crooked channels through which they operate. His eyes are 
opened to the fact that chief engineers and chief draftsmen hire only 
through such and such an agency; that engineers and others are 
reaping profits from the unfortunate who need work; and that when 
once they have dealt with an agency, they are continually pestered 
with new offers. Many have been fired in order that a chief could 
hire new victims. To suggest such a thing as split fees may be 
unethical, but not necessarily untruthful. The agencies are a dis- 
grace to the profession but the profession had best ask itself, "Who 
is directly supporting them, the employee or the employer?" 

It is wrong in principle for individuals to derive profit from 
those who happen to be out of work and the private engineering 
agencies must eventually go out of business. The Division of En- 
gineering of the U. S. Employment Bureau has made an attempt to 
give free service to all technical men and has rendered valuable aid 
to the government and to the men during the war. The American 
Association of Engineers has developed a free employment service 
for its members, second only to the Government. Other engineering 
societies have likewise attemted to give service to their members. 
Neither these societies nor the Government will be able to effective- 
ly serve all draftsmen or all engineers until one agency has eliminat- 
ed all the others through a survival of the fittest. There must be 
only one. 

SUPPLY AND DEMAND. The demand for draftsmen dur- 
ing the war was beyond all precedent but nevertheless there was no 



62 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

period in which the supply was not equal to the demand. The U. S. 
Employment Bureau states that the only exception to this fact was in 
a few specialized lines but reports indicated that the supply became 
inferior where the demand was the greatest. Every draftsman should 
note carefully that normally there are too many in the drafting bus- 
iness. Every young man who intends to follow engineering should 
know it also. Every school should note it, because there are more 
students in the engineering courses than ever before, particularly 
in those schools which give only a superficial engineering education 
but sufficient for them to take up drafting. 

I have no intention of campaigning against the schools to re- 
duce the supply of technical men. The proper way to correct the 
condition of over-supply is to create a larger demand. A technical 
education is a good foundation for any line of industrial occupation, 
and there are great opportunities in the field for the surplus drafts- 
men if they would only rise to the occasion. There are thousands 
of positions in the service of cities, states and federal government, 
which technical men should hold and they no doubt would if they 
displayed more interest in the civic affairs of the community in 
which they live. To get into politics is not saying that you have to 
sacrifice any principle of engineering ethics or even of your own 
religion. Politics is what we make it or what the crooks make of it 
when the best citizens refuse to vote or run for office. 

UNETHICAL PRACTICES. There exists among some com- 
panies which employ draftsmen a practice that is most reprehen- 
sible and one that is becoming more and more unpopular. It is the 
practice of making agreements, probably unwritten ones, between 
companies or individuals not to hire men from each other. That is to 
say, a draftsman perfects all arrangements to make a change by 
which he hopes to better his position, when all at once the secret 
agreement comes into play and the deal is off. It is without doubt 
barring a man's progress and prevents him from improving his con- 
dition through individual effort. It is similiar in effect to a black 
list or a boycott and without a semblance of justice. 

To say the practice is unethical to a draftsman who has been 
through such an experience is to receive a string of invectives a- 



EMPLOYMENT. 63 

gainst the entire engineering profession in general and certain in- 
dividuals in particular. Why? Because the profession is represent- 
ed principally by the big national societies. These societies are 
strong for preaching about their ethical ideals and the dignity of 
the profession. But it is the individual engineers who are re- 
sponsible for the above practice and they invariably belong to one 
or more of the big societies. If any think that this practice is ob- 
solete I will say that some of the most powerful corporations in the 
U. S. are today exercising this and similar methods of keeping drafts- 
men — engineers — on the tread-mill and it is not confined whol- 
ly to the big electrical companies either. 

Hire-and-fire methods are also abominable ones which are in 
vogue in many engineering offices and construction organizations. 
Companies are extremely particular regarding the experience and 
qualifications of the men they employ, but do not hesitate to un- 
ceremoniously discharge them the minute they cease to become a 
necessity. 

No such thing as a "permanent" position exists and draftsmen 
should accept no discounted salary on the promise of one. Promises 
also are frequently made regarding future increases and various 
other inducements given to persuade draftsmen to accept positions 
when men are not very plentiful. Draftsmen should beware of these 
rash promises because they are only made by crafty managers who 
will not be over scrupulous in keeping them. 



; 



CHAPTER VI. 
COMPENSATION. 



CHAPTER VI. 

COMPENSATION. 

GREED FOR WEALTH. Money, money, money and more 
money. Higher pay, minimum wages, just compensation. It is a 
disease. From the ignorant laborer to the bloated plutocrat the cry 
is the same, — more money. When will mortals learn that money, 
or material wealth, never brings the happiness which the inner self 
really desires? Never till the Christ Truth enters the consciousness 
and heals this insane desire, this covetousness, this disease. Wealth 
positively does not bring either health or happiness. Both are men- 
tal conditions, therefore they cannot be dependent upon material 
money. If you have ever seen a real, old time darkey you will in a 
measure realize that health, happiness and poverty may dwell 
amicably together. 

If this .seems like a bit of a sermon it is a most important one 
and a factor in the settlement of wage disputes which is seldom 
ever taken into account. The tendency has been too often to make 
demands for higher pay without regard to the justice of the cause, 
to get it because some other trade got it. There is no principle be- 
hind this method. For instance if John earns more money than his 
older brother, this fact in itself is no reason for the older brother to 
make any disturbance about it. If an electrician makes more than 
a brick-layer it is no reason why the latter should demand higher 
pay. If a steel roller makes $50 per day is it any reason why a 
yegg-man should make $5000 in a night? If one draftsman in the 
office makes more than you do is that any reason why you should 
put on a grouch and make yourself miserable? 

This is just what causes the misery and discontent, — coveting 
something which some one else has. If draftsmen want a just com- 
pensation it would be well to sit down and think these things over 
and reason the problem out scientifically. Every office must en- 
deavor to grade the positions so that there will be no cause for 



68 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

complaint about the inequality of salaries. It is a problem for the 
management, not the draftsman. Any draftsman who has brains 
enough to make a competent workman must have sufficient intel- 
ligence to bring him to the conclusion that right and reason will 
win, not eventually, but NOW. It won the greatest conflict in all 
history and it will win every time it is applied. 

FACTORS OF COMPENSATION. The factors which must 
be considered in determining a just compensation are varied and in- 
numerable. However the most important are given as follows :— 

1. Educational training which is necessary in order to perform 
the given work. 

2. Practical experience required in addition to the theoretical 
training. 

3. Responsibility of the position in connection with the value 
and importance of the work. 

4. Executive ability, or the possibility of becoming a future 
executive. 

5. Accuracy, speed and all-around effective economy of the 
workman. 

6. Length of time in the employer's service. 

7. Potential value; that is, a draftsman may have minor duties 
but retained and paid as an emergency expert. 

8. Character and personal appearance. 

9. Period of time in which a man may do effective work. 
10. Special qualifications. 

No fixed rule can be given to determine the just compensation 
based on these conditions. Neither can the relative value of each 
point be established except in the specific cases. But a few figures 
will show that draftsmen have not been receiving their just dues. 

EDUCATION. Like any other engineer a draftsman must 
have a technical education. He must get it either in college or 
spend an equal amount of time in home or night-school study. The 
educational training of the average college graduate represents an 
investment of about $8000, when taking into account the cost of tui- 



COMPENSATION. 69 

tion plus the lost earnings during the time at school. This figure 
is necessarily estimated because there is little reliable data on the 
subject. When statements are made that a college education costs 
one or two hundred or even one or two thousand dollars, it is ab- 
surd. If the student instead of preparing for college had at the age 
of sixteen taken up brick-laying he could have by the time of gradu- 
ation easily averaged $1000 per year income or earned a total of 
about $7000. This sum represents an economic loss as our man has 
been a non-producer for about seven years. Now if this sum is not 
considered and added to the cost of his education it is penalizing 
him just that much over the tradesman. Some men may work their 
way thru or even earn a surplus over the cost of tuition but on the 
other hand many others will affirm that it cost them $5000 and over. 
To say that an average college training in engineering represents 
an investment of $8000 is not far from the truth. 

EXPERIENCE. The practical experience required to do the 
most ordinary drafting, even good tracing, takes from one to two 
years. To become fairly competent in just one special branch of 
engineering takes three to four years. To become an all-around 
competent structural draftsman or machine draftsman takes from 
six to ten years. It is necessary for a draftsman to send six months 
to a year in the shop or on construction, or at least to be where he 
can see his work constructed, before the experience can be called 
really practical. Since this experience must be in addition to educa- 
tional work when it is evident that a draftsman will be twenty-eight 
or thirty years of age before he acquires the qualifications which go 
to make up a "first class draftsman". For this highly trained and 
specialized products of modern civilization, the actual pioneers of 
industrial advancement, the employer offers the munificent sum of 
$25 or perhaps $40 per week. Now with a steady income of $2000 per 
annum a married man with a small family could by living very 
economically save perhaps $480 per year which is just sufficient to 
pay 6 per cent interest on the initial investment of $8000. The prin- 
ciple remains unpaid. Without considering any points other than 
educational training and experience a college traning then, so far as 
drafting is concerned, is a total loss, because $2000 is above the 
average draftsman's salary. 



70 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

The draftsman however must have the theoretical training so if 
he does not go to college he must get it at night schools or by home 
study. Undoubtedly he can get it cheaper this way than he can in 
college. It may be that the colleges offer a broader education and 
the night schools a more practical one, but it is not my intention to 
discuss the advantages or disadvantages of either. The point I wish 
to bring out forcibly is ; that the educational training, consisting of 
higher arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physis, 
mechanics, and special engineering, must be mastered and six to ten 
years practical experience acquired on top of this, before one may 
qualify for a position as a "thoroughly experienced draftsman" as 
the ads read. The employer makes the specifications and we must 
meet them. Now since the theory and practice must be acquired 
and at just a certain amount of effort, does it make very much dif- 
ference where or how it is acquired? Is not the man who works all 
day and studies night after night year in and year out just as de- 
serving of the reward of a better position as the one who goes to 
college? 

TIME IN COLLEGE. This fact stands out that the night 
school or home study man can acquire his education at a net cost 
of a few hundred dollars at most while the education of the college 
graduate represents a cost to the nation if not to himself of about 
$8000. If I may venture a humble opinion : it is too much. There is 
nothing regarding the fundamentals of engineering, being simply 
truth, that can not be obtained outside of the college or any other 
school. Educators tell us that certain studies are desirable to give 
finish and round out the college man's viewpoint. But do they think 
of the years of non-production right in the student's prime of life? 
Is it not somewhat out of the natural order of things to expect a 
man to produce nothing until well along in the twenties? Neither 
can he support a family under the present rate of engineering in- 
comes for some years after he leaves college unless he borrows 
money. 

INTENSE PRODUCTIVE AGE. We are now entering into 
an age of intense productive effort and the workman's wages (we 
hope, too, the draftsman's) are enormously increasing, not so much 
to meet the higher cost of living but to pay for the cost of living 



COMPENSATION. 71 

higher and better. Then it is well for students in engineering to 
reduce the cost of education and get to producing something by the 
time they take on the full measure of citizenship. Get the funda- 
mentals and cut out the non-essentials, — the latter may be studied 
at leisure. I cannot share the opinion of those who believe that the 
college gives polish. The man who does not acquire his polish or 
refinement under the home influence is not apt to get it at all. The 
college course must be cut down to fundamentals and reduced in 
time required. What is the sense of wasting three months in each 
year on a vacation? We need more vacations after the commence- 
ment and less before. The vacation as we know it now is only a 
relic of by-gone days when the students had to go home in the sum- 
mer to help on the farm. It wasn't a vacation in those days, it was 
hard work. 

I wil not attempt then to establish a rate of pay for draftsmen 
in order to charge off the principle and interest on the $8000 invest- 
ment. But this training has a money value which must be reckoned 
with, regardless of where it was obtained, so to me $5000 seems a 
fair valuation. I will leave it to my critics to dispute this sum. 

ABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY. The responsibility of 
the work at hand is a most important factor in considering the com- 
pensation of draftsmen. A man in charge of $25000 worth of work 
should be rated higher than one in charge of $250, that is, in theory. 
Actually this practice could not always be followed but the more 
responsible work should go to the man with the higher rate of pay. 
In detailing and checking, in all engineering in fact, accuracy is of 
first importance. But if accuracy is not reckoned with speed, the 
former may become so painfully acute that it would be uneconom- 
ical. If a draftsman should fall below a certain level in his degree 
of accuracy so as to be classed as careless, his career is doomed in 
this work and plowing would be far better for him. The incompe- 
tent must be weeded out or seek their level and the best men will 
rise above them. 

All other things being equal, senority should be given prefer- 
ence for if the older men, in point of service, are not so recognized 
then what hope have the younger ones? The effect is demoralizing. 
When a man is promoted over men older in the service it must be 



72 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

for capabilities which are self-evident, in which case the older man 
will realize and respect the other fellow. 

FORTY YEAR DEAD LINE. A point usually overlooked, 
(and there is little evidence that the others ever had much thought) 
in the matter of draftsmen's compensation is the period of time dur- 
ing which a man can find employment. Every one knows that if he 
is out of w r ork at the age of forty he finds it almost impossible to 
locate a position unless there is a great demand in his line. Like- 
wise a draftsman at this age even tho he has been with a company 
for some time usually finds that he is slipping down hill or losing 
prestige about the office and the younger men getting the best 
work, — unless per contra he is sufficiently above the average to 
take the higher executive positions. In other words if a draftsman 
is not in an executive position at forty, and off the board, he is very 
likely to be ousted at the first opportunity. As only approximately 
ten per cent can ever become executives, such as being in charge of 
squads or departments or chief, then we have the fact facing every 
draftsman that he must prove to be the one in ten or he is apt to 
find himself walking the streets at forty or perhaps forty-five. 

Now there is just one solution to this distressing problem. It is 
that the rank and file or the ninety per cent must receive sufficient 
compensation during the ten years between the ages of thirty and 
forty to pay off the initial investment of $5000; to enable them to 
live in circumstances commensurate with the position; and to pro- 
vide for the years after forty. It is an unusual way to look at it, 
you will say, but ask any draftsman in the forties, one who has 
done good work and is still able to do it, but fell at the forty year 
dead line. After sacrificing every thing for the love of engineer- 
ing, he has to get along with a "job" now and then, sometimes at 
$150 and sometimes it is only $80. He knows. He can tell you how 
it is. Every young man should know NOW what he knows; then 
more of them will take up farming first, instead of afterward. Get 
out of the drafting-room before you are thirty or else see that your 
compensation between thirty and forty is sufficient to stretch over 
the future years of reduced income. They don't want you after 
that. I know many draftsmen but of the few past forty scarcely any 
are earning a decent living at the board. It is quite possible that 



COMPENSATION. 73 

in time a change will come about regarding the age limit of drafts- 
men as well as other workmen. While some men begin to deteri- 
orate at forty it is by no means true of all of them. There is no 
reason whatever for them to decline at forty or even sixty provided 
they have lived orderly lives and have not had to work under tne 
unsatisfactory conditions which wear away body and soul. 

BASIC PRINCIPLES. The writer assisted in formulating a 
set of principles on which to base a schedule of rates for various 
grades of engineers. It is, I believe, the first attempt to create any 
such set of standards and the majority of engineers look with horror 
on the very idea, even though many of them are unable to buy two 
suits of clothes a year on their present income simply because they 
refuse to work together or to organize. This set of principles is 
given with slight changes as it was originally reported to the Chi- 
cago Chapter of the American Association of Engineers. 

Every draftsman should study them carefully because they con- 
tain the essence of the whole intricate problem of wage adjustment. 
If all disputes are settled thru cooperation and if every draftsman 
demonstrates his ability to perform service, just compensation will 
be granted and permanently established. Draftsmen never have 
made a united effort to show the employer or the public the value 
of their work. 

SEVEN FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 

1. That the profession of engineering, taken as a whole, is in- 
sufficiently paid, or is not paid in proportion to the high degree of 
responsibility entailed or the technical training required to perform 
the work. 

2. That the principle of a square deal for everybody should 
underly all rules of compensation, and that technical men must de- 
monstrate their worth both to their employers and to the public be- 
fore they will receive the compensation due them. 

3. That this demonstration should be made by individual sales- 
manship and by proper methods of publicity, to establish coopera- 
tion between employers and employees and to insure proper recog- 
nition of the services of the engineer by the ( public. 

4. That while salesmanship may produce results in individual 
cases, it is necessary to operate collectively for the rank and file of 



74 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

engineers and desirable that some form of grades for engineering 
services be adopted with a minimum rate of pay for each grade. 

5. That any rates suggested shall not be maximum standards 
but rather indicate the rate of pay of anyone who can perform the 
work and that individual effort should be encouraged to the full- 
est extent and paid for accordingly. 

6. That in the determination of a just compensation, considera- 
tion shall be given to the effort or cost of the educational training, 
the years and character of experience in the particular line, as well 
as total years of experience; length of time in the employer's serv- 
ice ; character and personality : degree of efficiency, and special 
qualifications, permanency of the work and economic conditions. 

7. That the uncontrolled law of supply and demand is not a 
just method by which to determine the compensation for valuable 
services. Therefore, steps should be taken to control its operation 
so that it may not become oppressive, especially in the lower grades 
of service. 

STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS. It is important that 
working conditions be standardized to a certain extent so that the 
rate of pay recommended may apply to a uniform basis of opera- 
tion. That is, if a salary of $2400 per year is on a basis of eight 
hours per day, and if a company insists on their draftsmen working 
ten hours per day, then draftsmen should in turn insist on pay for 
two hours per day extra, plus extra for over-time, — other things 
being equal. It is much to be regretted that we have to follow in 
the footsteps of labor in this respect but when employing companies 
as'k draftsmen to work over-time night after night with no extra 
rate of pay or when they demand the best college graduates and 
pay them $60 per month it is time to set standards of working con- 
ditions. For these reasons I make specific recommendations for 
draftsmen to consider and adopt as they see fit. 

1. That the hours of employment ordinarily do not exceed eight 
hours per day or forty-four hours per week. 

2. That overtime be paid for at 50 per cent increase. 

3. That positions of less than six months duration be classed 
as "temporary" and be rated at 20 per cent to 50 per cent 
higher than the minimum according to conditions. 



COMPENSATION. 75 

4. That no one in charge of work shall receive less pay than 
any one for whose work he is responsible. 

5. That not less than one day for each month employed during 
the year be granted for vacation, in addition to all national 
holidays. 

Bonus and piece work systems, group insurance schemes etc., 
are sometimes good and sometimes quite the opposite. They are 
frequently camouflaged methods of keeping salaries down. For 
instance $1000 insurance on the group plan costs a company a very 
little less than it does the individual. The insurance company 
makes the concession in order to get new names on its books to ex- 
ploit for new investment insurance on which they make more money. 
Draftsmen are intelligent enough, or should be, to care for their own 
welfare, insurance and investments, and they would be better satis- 
fied to have the compensation they are entitled to without strings. 
Since there is such wonderful development taking place in the 
management of industries it is most important that draftsmen keep 
in touch with the progress of events and see that tried and approved 
methods are adopted in the drafting-rooms. The course seems to be 
leading towards profit sharing schemes in which all employees share. 
It is quite possible they will have to share in the losses as well as 
the profits if the plan is to be a strictly cooperative one. 

AVERAGE SCHEDULE. The following schedule of rates is 
given only to indicate in a general way the salary which an average 
draftsman should make and his bank balance at the end of each year : 
AGE SALARY INDEBTEDNESS SAVINGS BALANCE 

21 $1500 $5000 

22 1800 4800 

23 2100 4488 

24 2400 4057 

25 2700 3400 

26 3000 2404 

27 3300 1148 

28 3600 ^— 

29 3900 

30 4200 

(6% interest included.) 



$500 


—$4800 


600 


— 4488 


700 


— 4057 


900 


— 3400 


1200 


— 2404 


1400 


— 1148 


1600 


+ 383 


1800 


+ 2206 


2100 


+ 4438 


2400 


+ 7104 



76 



THE DRAFTSMAN. 



At the age of thirty the draftsman is credited with about $7000 
in the bank and from thirty to forty, even if his salary continues con- 
stant, he will be able to save an additional $30000 more or less. If 
he started to work without the initial indebtedness of $5000 then it 
would be still better and he would be all the more deserving if he 
had carved out his own education rather than have had it cut and 
dried for him. Now being an average draftsman and reaching the 
dead line of forty, he is able to continue the battle of life when the 
company decides that younger men must take his place. All con- 
nected with engineering must begin to think of the work of draft- 
ing in different terms than they ever did before. Salaries of $5000 
to $6000 will take the place of $2000 and $3000 ones. "Approximately 
one hundred per cent increase is only a fair request which every able 
draftsman should make. There is no class of men which is more 
deserving of it. They can save their salaries many times over for 
their companies if given proper supervision and greater responsibili- 
ty for those competent. 

OFFICE ORGANIZATION. I have outlined a tentative or- 
ganization for an engineering office of fifty men with salaries based 
on an intimate knowledge of existing requirements and responsibil- 
ities of the average organization. 



ORGANIZATION OF AN ENGINEERING OFFICE. 
Salaries and ages about as follows: 



6 

8 

10 

9 

5 
3 



Chief engineer 

Office 

Designing " 
tt it 

Estimating " 
Squad 
Engineers 



40--50 


$12000 


35—45 


9000 


35—45 


7200 


30—35 


6000 


30—35 


6000 


30—40 


5200—6000 


35—40 


4800—5200 


30—35 


4200—4800 


25—30 


2700—4200 


20—25 


1200—2700 


18—20 


1020—1200 


16—18 


900—1020 



COMPENSATION. 77 

We will assume that a student graduates at twenty one, starts 
to work well grounded in the fundamentals of engineering and has 
sufficient practical experience in the art of drawing to be able to pro- 
duce almost at once. His salary would be $1500 per year to start. 
Increases, it will be noted, are at the uniform rate of $300 per year 
for ten years, until the age of thirty, when an income is reached 
which enables a draftsman to save for his later years. If he does 
not seem to be able to develop properly within a year or so under 
proper supervision, his increases should cease. He then will un- 
derstand that he is not suited to drafting and he should be placed 
elsewhere with the company. Between the ages of thirty and forty 
the increases will be much less except for the few men who are 
capable of taking on the responsibility of executives with titled po- 
sitions. The line of succession and promotion must be well defined 
and under stood by all. Note that there are no draftsmen in the 
organization. 

Drafting, tracing, detailing, checking, estimating, designing, is 
the work of engineers and if the draftsmen ever hope to command 
respect commensurate with the dignity of their calling — engineer- 
ing, — they must use no word denoting the positions except 
"engineer". 

THE TENDENCIES TO KEEP SALARIES DOWN. There 
are a number of things which tend to kep down the salaries of drafts- 
men. Some have been mentioned in other chapters but it will only 
accent then to repeat a few. "Going the rounds" looking for work, 
writing letters indiscriminately, in search of positions, speaking con- 
tinually of "jobs" and "wages" and unsatisfactory working condi- 
tions. Rise above the conditions and talk of positions and salaries, 
and decent living. Think of the just compensation and not "more 
money or strikes". Establish some schedule of prices and uphold it. 
Do not take any salary less than what you are worth. 

UNION METHODS. The trade unions have long been active 
in securing higher wages and they have not always stood upon the 
order of their methods. Frequently they have been most destructive 
but no more so than the means which have been used against them. 
On the whole the unions, as typified by the American Federation of 
Labor, are a great and powerful constructive agency. The standard 



78 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

wages they adopt is the simplest way to handle the situation and the 
labor leaders have not concerned themselves very much about the 
right or wrong of this detail but have allowed the other fellow to do 
the worrying. A change is coming about in union wage methods 
and even now considerable unrest exists among the better element 
in the unions, because they are forced to work to this standard wage, 
receiving the same pay as the low grade workman. 

They are not content with this equality of wages, which paradox- 
ical as it may seen, is not equal rights at all, for it is not just. Evi- 
dence of the fact that trades people are giving more intelligent con- 
sideration to the wage problem may be found in England and in 
some of the British possessions as well as in the United States. Laws 
are being passed requiring the payment of minimum wages for all 
classes so that they may at least live respectably. Union leaders 
have been talking about minimum wages, implying that a higher 
rate will have to be paid to those who do more work, and differ- 
ing from the present standard scale which is virtually a maximum 
rate. 

This is a most hopeful sign of the times because it means that 
labor, although not aware of it, is groping in the dark for scientific 
or engineering management. Engineers must be trained to deter- 
mine who are the capable workmen and deserving of wages above 
the minimum. 

So draftsmen who are joining the union can best help them- 
selves and the other union men by assisting in bringing about this 
change from flat standard wages to minimum standards. The adop- 
tion of any sort of standard salaries for draftsmen is at best but a 
compromise between the union method and the individual method of 
selling services. The immediate aim is to stop the exploitation of 
draftsmen. To insist on a just compensation will certainly tend to 
create deeper respect for the work of drafting and both the compen- 
sation and the respect are now at low ebb. 



CHAPTER VII. 
ORGANIZATION. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ORGANIZATION. 

ORGANIZATION NECESSARY. Several times in this book 
and many times elsewhere I have said that draftsmen must have an 
organization. It is absolutely necessary. Practically nothing is ac- 
complished in this age without an organization. In industry, in war, 
in peace in politics, and in religion, little is accomplished without 
organized effort. The working man has, to a large extent, come into 
his own thru his organizations, the unions. The trade unions are on 
the whole for a good purpose and are necessary at the present time 
as a protection to the laborers and tradesmen. They are also re- 
sponsible for many evil deeds committed in an endeavor to right 
fancied or actual wrongs altho on the other hand they are probably 
guilty of no more crime than the "capitalists" have been in the 
past. 

CAPITAL AND LABOR. It is not necessary to discuss capital 
and labor in dealing with our problem except to say that there is 
in reality only room for one class of people in the United States of 
America, and that the so-called classes are rapidly finding it out. 
One writer has said that there are 30000 companies which have some 
kind of welfare work established among their employees. A really 
deep and sincere effort is being made, by a large and growing num- 
ber of industrial managers, to treat employees justly. There will 
undoubtedly be war in some form or other until human beings 
eliminate the desire to possess something which does not rightly be- 
long to them. Selfishness is the chief sin which prevents us all from 
living in harmony. The proper place for the technical man is between 
Capital d.nd Labor, directing and uniting both. 

DRAFTSMEN'S UNIONS. Draftsmen have because of condi- 
tions already described, become easy prey for the unionizing move- 
ment. A number of unions have been formed and become affiliated 
with the American Federation of Labor, but just how many is not 



82 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

easily ascertained. One cannot condemn draftsmen for joining 
unions when engineers themselves and others advise it. Consider 
such a case as the Engineering Department of the City of Chicago. 
When these engineers asked for an increase in the civil service rate, 
they were told by the Council Committee "to go form a union and 
demand the increase, otherwise it would not go thru." Can these 
men be censored for doing it; especially since the rates have not 
been increased in twenty-one years? Trade unions have, on the other 
hand, obtained increases time and again. 

ENGINEERS' ADVICE. The only cause for engineers to ad- 
vise draftsmen to join unions is ignorance of the fundamental causes 
of unrest. They know little about unions and less about organiza- 
tions in general. Why do draftsmen join unions and what do they 
expect to gain? The underlying cause of unrest is the wrongs which 
have been inflicted upon draftsmen but the surface cause of the 
union tendencies is low salaries. 

These wrongs may be summed up largely in the one great crime 
of the profession ; the humiliation of engineers by engineers. Thou- 
sands of draftsmen, particularly the younger ones, are today work- 
ing under most unsatisfactory conditions. If a man objects to them 
he is usually fired; therefore he seeks to unite his efforts in order to 
right his wrongs. "The union men are getting the money, so let's 
join the union", indicates the general thought or lack of thought. 
So draftsmen are thinking that the unions will get them more money 
and that this will make up for the other conditions. 

THE MISCONCEPTION. Will the unions get the draftsmen 
more money? Very likely they will, but how much? Will an organiza- 
tion composed of laborers and tradesmen work very hard to get 
draftsmen more than they make themselves? I hardly think so and 
yet none will deny that the class of work is deserving of better com- 
pensation than that of the tradesmen, generally speaking. Then what 
about strikes? Will intelligent draftsman enjoy the idea of being 
called out by some walking delegate in support of a hod-carrier's de- 
mand for more money? I think not, but the possibility ought to be 
considered. 

NOTHING GAINED. Draftsmen gain nothing by joining 
unions allied with the trades because they possess in themselves al: 



ORGANIZATION. 83 

the power requisite to make demands or threats if they so desire in 
order to gain "more money", without allying with the trades to 
which they do not belong. In allying with the trades they only give 
away the power they possess and become the tools of the unions. 
The unions want draftsmen and are seeking other unorganized pro- 
fessions because it gives them more power. Power is what they want 
and it is just as well to curb their ambitions somewhat before they 
upset the economic balance of the country. So I repeat, — drafts- 
men gain nothing by joining a union ; they relinquish what power 
they already possess; they give up their chance of advancement be- 
cause union men as a rule are not apt to receive the promotions. 
They place themselves on a lower plane of intelligence and every 
one in his heart really considers those who are more intelligent as 
his superiors. The different degrees of intelligence should represent 
the only classes and every incentive and help given to those who de- 
sire to reach a higher class. 

STANDARD WAGES. The unions have always stood for stand- 
ard wages which while being a protection to the incompetent, is 
discouraging to the better class of workmen. Draftsmen have en- 
deavored to get away from the standard wage which is a cause of 
much discontent and under which they are at present reluctantly 
working. Frequently draftsmen with widely different capabilities are 
compelled to work side by side at practically the same rate of pay. 
One man can easily prove that he does twice the work of another 
but finds it absolutely impossible to get more than a few dollars per 
month higher pay. The unions wil not lift draftsmen out of this 
rut; but will only anchor them deeper in it. 

ENGINEERING SOCIETIES. Most all of the several hun- 
dred engineering societies and clubs are open to draftsmen but the 
benefits derived are of a technical or educational nature and with a 
few exceptions the business and welfare side is entirely out of their 
line. In :ther words they are not real organizations from which the 
members receive any material benefits or protection such as a union 
or a business man's association offers. 

A few societies furnish employment service in a desultory way 
and sometimes they attempt to have a license law passed. The 



84 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

draftsmen gets precious little that he needs in return for the dues 
he pays and as for the educational advantages, they may be had with- 
out joining a society. Then again a draftsman unless he can show 
some engineering title other than "only a draftsman" is ignored in 
most engineering assemblies. 

The writer will undoubtedly be severely critized for thus con- 
demning the engineering societies but he is quite able to meet it 
with facts which will verify any statements made. The attitude 
which the engineers in general and the societies in particular hold 
toward draftsmen is a hypocritical one and most unjust. This con- 
dition is undergoing a change however which has been brought 
about by the efforts of the younger men, and what is true today may 
not be true tomorrow. The change will be for the better and will 
take into account the interests of the younger men. When the at- 
titude does change every draftsman should join some society which 
is advancing technical knowledge. 

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS. There is one 
body in which can be found considerable hope for draftsmen, viz., 
the American Association of Engineers. The writer has been an 
active member of this Association since its inception and can say that 
it is organized on the right lines to meet the needs of the entire 
engineering field. Its objects "are to raise the standard of ethics of 
the engineering profession and to promote the economic and social 
welfare of engineers". It is strictly a business organization and 
technical subjects are left to the older societies. Draftsmen are ad- 
mitted to membership in three grades and the qualifications for each 
grade are as follows : 

"A Certified member must be a graduate engineer with two 
years' experience or he must have had seven years' experience, 
including three years in responsible charge of engineering work. 
Due credit is given for responsible drafting work. 

A Junior member must be a graduate engineer or have one 
or more years' technical training and two years' practical engin- 
eering experience; or have five years' practical experience." 

A candidate-Junior member shall have had one or more 
years' practical engineering experience or one or more years' 
training in a recognized technical engineering college." 



ORGANIZATION. 85 

It certainly is some improvement on the "holier-than-thou" at- 
titude taken by the older engineering societies. It is only another 
short step to a realization that everyone engaged in technical en- 
gineering has the right to call himself an engineer. 

This Association has carried on an aggressive campaign against 
the employment agencies and has established its own service bureau 
through which hundreds of draftsmen have received assistance. It 
has taken a decided stand for increased compensation for all techni- 
cal men. It has entered a feeble protest against the unsatisfactory 
working conditions prevailing throughout the engineering field but 
this protest will undoubtedly become stronger as the organization 
grows. It has become interested in politics in a non-partisan way, 
a step which is most necessary for technical men to take. The rea- 
son government by the people has to a certain extent failed is be- 
cause the better class of people fail in their civic duty. 

In any organization of engineers or draftsmen, and I contend 
that they are as one, the fundamental principle must be unselfish, 
otherwise there will be an endless amount of discord and eventual- 
ly destruction. This is not saying that the organization should not 
seek higher pay for draftsmen (which taken by itself, is selfish) but 
that the organization must not seek it unless the draftsmen are worth 
it. To fight for ones' just rights is not considered selfish. The or- 
ganization must promote and support worthy objects and the mem- 
bers must give of their time to help in these things without asking 
something in return. "Virtue hath its own reward" and if one free- 
ly gives, he will certainly receive, else the Savior's words do not 
hold good today. 

The back-bone of an organization is in its officers and care- 
ful judgment must be exercised in their selection. The real work 
is usually done in the various committees. In committee work the 
best method to pursue is probably to appoint one man as chairman 
and hold him responsible for the work assigned. He may select 
his own assistants as he sees fit. Center the responsibility in one 
person. If an organization is to succed it must give good service to 
the members who support it, and every member must in turn sup- 
port the activities of the organization. The employment bureau for 



86 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

example will depend upon the individual members to furnish it with 
reports regarding vacancies and any other information necessary to 
a mutual benefit association. The funds to support a mutual em- 
ployment bureau should properly be paid regularly as dues, which 
relieves the burden of having to pay for service when least able to 
do so, or in other words when out of work. Is it not clearly shown 
that to be successful any organization of technical men must in- 
clude the entire profession? Otherwise there will not be unity of 
action nor effective purpose. 

WASTEFUL HABITS. A few figures will suffice to show that 
money is being expended to no good purpose, sufficient to support 
an organization which would answer the needs of the entire engineer- 
ing profession. 

For instance the daily papers and technical magazines of the 
United States are carrying "Situation Wanted" ads to the value of 
approximately $100,000 per year which sum is paid out of the meager 
salaries of the technical men. 

Draftsmen are paying a considerable share of this as well the 
employment agency fees. The numerous local engineering clubs 
and societies provide another opening into which engineers are pour- 
ing an astonishing sum of money. Out of some three hundred en- 
gineering bodies there are but a very few which are doing any 
earthly good, either for their members or for the welfare of the 
community. Perhaps draftsmen ae paying only a small percentage 
of these dues because they are "only draftsmen" and are not espe- 
cially desirable, but the fact remains that engineers are wasting this 
money. It should be put to some good purpose and the most im 
portant thing is to build up an organization both for the commercial 
interests of the engineer and for the unselfish interests of benefiting 
the public. 

A summary of this waste amounts to the enormous total of 
approximately $1,000,000 per year as follows: — 

Wasted in employment agencies fees $500,000 

Wasted in want ads 100.000 

Wasted in useless engineering societies 400,000 

Total $1,000,000 



CHAPTER VIII. 
PATENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PATENTS. 

Almost every draftsman at some period in his life longs to in- 
vent an article or machine which is patentable. There seems to be 
a sort of honor attached to one who has invented a device and the 
patent papers are as a certificate of merit in acknowledgement of 
the so-called creation. It would be presuming to say that drafts- 
men take out the majority of patents granted. It is more likely that 
it is only a small percentage, but it is not presuming to say that they 
have invented a great many things which others got patented. 
Furthermore if the truth were known, I am of the opinion that there 
is a very small percentage of all the patented inventions which were 
not either invented, improved or developed by draftsmen, not to 
mention the making of the patent drawings. It is seldom that the 
draftsman ever profits by his inventive skill or genius: almost in- 
variably it seems that some one with more business ability and less 
principle relieves him of the burden of wealth. For this reason it is 
most vital that the draftsman becomes familiar with the best method 
of procedure when he reaches that stage of his career wherein it 
seems that he must invent something. 

Nothing should be done to discourage our creative geniuses, nor 
do I wish to do so, but if the young men would only observe the 
very simple rules regarding the obtaining of patents and learn what 
a patent is and .the value of it, then they would save themselves 
much time, trouble and expense. They will also prevent any incom- 
petent or unscrupulous patent sharks, who prey on just such un- 
sophisicated youths, from obtaining a means of livlihood, and there 
will be less "paper" patents, (i. e. patents with worthless claims) 
by many thousands. Every one with a new idea is shy and suspicious 
that it will be stolen. This is wrong because it in turn arouses a 
suspicious interest which invites the very disaster the inventor is 
trying to avoid. 



90 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

Never keep the idea secret for this reason: If some one, unbe- 
known, should steal it and take out a patent claiming it as his own, 
you have absolutely no chance to realize on your invention because 
no proof exists, that is, no witnesses to testify, that you are the 
lawful inventor. Even if another actually invents the same thing 
and gets it patented while you are "keeping yours secret" he be- 
comes the patentee in the eyes of the law. If you have made a sketch 
of your idea or invention and have it witnessed and dated, then you 
can prove your claim according to its date. In making a sketch or 
description of the idea, have one or more relatives or friends each 
write on it, "I understand this invention", then sign it and give the 
date. Make them understand it if you can. Preserve this paper and 
if your friends can be trusted to verify their signatures, it will hold 
perfectly good in court, even tho another patents the same thing 
and establishes a business on the invention. 

Keep a complete chronological record of all development work 
and study because it may be necessary to prove that "diligence" or 
continued effort has been proceeding. Keep a file of letters received 
and carbon copies on the same kind of letter head as the letter sent 
out. If any machine is built, have its operation witnessed and re- 
cord the names of at least some of the witnesses and dates. Proof, 
proof, proof is what a court requires if perchance the case is ever 
taken to court, but if all these precautions were taken fewer cases 
would ever get into court. In case of any supposed interference the 
case must be filed as soon as possible. Never make a joint applica- 
tion for a patent or own one jointly with another if it is possible to 
avoid it. The main reason is that when two own a patent jointly, 
either one may sell or manufacture the article regardless of the 
wishes of the other, unless very particular care is excercised in 
drawing up agreements, all of which is an endless source of trouble 
and expense. 

Bear in mind tfyat if an article is on the market for two years 
or more no valid patent can be issued covering it thereafter. When 
a draftsman makes an invention in line with his work there are cer- 
tain rights which he has, provided he does not previously sign over 
all such rights to his employers. This is a legitimate procedure for 
an employer to take to protect himself. If he is employing men to 



PATENTS. 91 

develop or invent machines or processes for him, he has a right to 
insist that they agree to assign them when they materialize. On 
the other hand when a draftsman is employed to do a regular line 
of work and then perchance discovers an improvement which is 
valuable or patentable he has a perfect right to realize on his dis- 
covery. The precautions necessary are that he must not do any of 
tne development in the office or at any time when the employer has 
a claim on his time. Hence proof must be obtained of this during 
any period of development. If the invention is protected in this way 
then by far the best thing to do is to take it up with the employer 
who will be more than apt to duly recompense the inventor. In one 
case $100 cash would represent a sufficient reward, then again, 
$10,000 would not be too much. If the invention must needs be 
tried out then it is only fair that the inventor and his employer co- 
operate, each realizing the proper value of the efforts of the other. 

Probably the greatest mistake, or rather misunderstanding, is 
in regard to the value of a patent. Many patents are not worth the 
sealing wax on them. Even some in which millions of dollars have 
been invested. Why? Because the claims have never been tested in 
court, and the value of a patent depends upon the validity and scope 
of the claims. When Uncle Sam grants a patent, all he says is this, 
"I have examined my records and so far as I can find you are the 
original inventor of this device and so I take great pleasure in is- 
suing you patent papers on which you will see my great seal, and 
attached is a ibeautiful piece of red ribbon." Sam is a good old fel- 
low but very careless with his diplomas. He doesn't give you a 
word of warning about the thousand and one pitfalls which are in 
your pathway nor does he offer much assistance when you fall into 
one, because he is too busy issuing patent papers to others. Every 
inventor should understand that his patent, even when granted with 
Uncle Sam's signature, is not a guarantee that the claims are valid 
until they are tried in the courts. It is evident that since Uncle 
Sam shifts the responsibility to the patent attorney it becomes highly 
important that the attorney presents such claims to the best of his 
ability. It is his jo'b and not Uncle Sam's, and if he is competent 
the case is less liable to get into court. To throw the patent into 
litigation is a costly procedure and one which unfortunately the 



92 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

average inventor has little chance of winning against a corporation 
with unlimited means. Our patent laws are not so unsatisfactory as 
our courts which are often inexperienced or incompetent to decide 
the technical questions arising. 

It might be said right here that frequently the greatest protec- 
tion which a patent gives one is that the public in general is ignorant 
of the fact that a patent grants so little. Altho I condemn certain 
legal procedure, the established laws however, and even customs, 
can not be revised in a day, so I advise every one who has an idea 
which he thinks is of value, to seek a patent attorney. As soon as 
the idea is in such shape to present, look for a reputable attorney, 
not one who advertises all kinds of inducements and benefits, but 
one if possible who comes well recommended and whose reputation 
is beyond question. See him personally if possible, and ask him if 
he thinks the idea is patentable. The answer may be "No", in which 
case all expense is saved. If the attorney cannot tell offhand that 
that the idea is not patentable he will advise a preliminary search 
for similar ideas which have been patented. The cost of this will be 
ordinarily about $10.00. Copies can be had of similar patented ideas 
for a few cents apiece and every inventor should procure them be- 
fore proceeding with his own, for he will frequently find that some 
one else has entirely covered the ground. If a library is handy where 
the Patent Record is on file, one may find valuable information him- 
self regarding similar ideas and possibly save all further search and 
endeavor. However unless one is familiar with patent procedure it 
is always best to consult an attorney, but do not look for the cheap- 
est one to be had. Cheap professional service is poor economy. 

It is undoubtedly a joy to feel that you have created or in- 
vented something which no one in the whole world, past or present, 
ever thought of before and I hesitate to take this joy out of any 
one's life. However it is far better to get down on the earth at once 
than to go through long months or years of tinkering and experi- 
menting, becoming so absorbed in the work that you get into a dis- 
agreeable, unreasoning, melancholy state which is only a mild form 
of insanity. This is why inventors have the reputation of being more 
or less crazy, because the condition has grown on them and they get 



PATENTS 93 

so impregnated with the belief that their own idea is going to revo- 
lutionize industry and is worth billions, that it is well nigh impos- 
sible to reason with them. So avoid this condition by seeking the 
advice and confidence of others, particularly a competent patent 
attorney. 

After finding out that the idea is patentable it is advisable to 
obtain if possible some knowledge about the salalbility of the patent. 
That is, it may be possible to determine at this time that even if the 
patent were procured it would not be practicable to manufacture the 
device. Perhaps it would be too costly to make and sell at a profit, 
or it might have no commercial worth at all. 

Patents cost about $100 (minimum) of which the government 
gets $35. A draftsman is not able to save anything by making his 
own patent drawings unless he has learned how they must be made, 
then it is a matter between him and his attorney. After a thorough 
search is made and the attorney advises that he thinks a patent may 
be secured, bear in mind that he can never give yon an absolutely 
positive answer in the matter. Consult the attorney on the possibil- 
ity of having the claims of the patent granted and the advisability 
of proceeding. Remember tho, it is his business to get patents as 
well as advise, and he could not reasonably be expected to discour- 
age an inventor when there was one chance in a thousand of obtain- 
ing a patent for him. The inventor must decide for himself whether 
he wants the patent or not, how badly he wants it and how much 
money he is willing to spend to get it. 

Now, after a patent is obtained, comes the hardest part of all, — 
that of realizing on the investment. It is safe to say that no one 
will ever be found who believes in the invention to the same extent 
as the inventor. Before an individual or a corporation agrees to 
manufacture a device, they want to be reasonably sure of a profit on 
their investment. The average inventor is most unreasonable in his 
demands which in turn discourages the right type of manufacturer, 
throwing the inventoir into the hands of the unscrupulous, who im- 
mediately proceed to fleece the unwary inventor by promising great 
things for him but performing little and that illegally. The next 
thing the inventor knows is bankruptcy and some one else in un- 
hampered possession of his invention. 



94 THE DRAFTSMAN. 

The inventor must beware also of granting the exclusive rights 
to manufacture on a royalty basis without stipulating a certain 
minimum output, because there are thousands of inventions now 
locked up in the vaults of corporations which will never see the light 
of day because of omitting this clause. It is much more desirable at 
times for a corporation to prevent an article from being manufac- 
tured even tho the patent has to be bought at a considerable sum, 
than to manufacture it. The reason is that it entails a large ex- 
pense to change over to the new device, so they prefer to go along in 
the old established rut. 

We pride ourselves on the inventive genius of the American 
people and how little the people in general realize that there are 
numerous inventions perfected today which if put on the market 
would revolutionize many lines of industry. This statement is not 
based on hearsay but on actual knowledge of a score of inventions 
which are unknown except to a few, because the inventor is so un- 
reasonable in his demands that manufacturers will not deal with 
him, or because a corporation is able to prevent the manufacture 
either by controlling the invention under contract or by monopoliz- 
ing the entire field in that line. In this nefarious work Ave can take 
no pride. 

Inventors, — "Watch your step." 

It is a fact that America has produced many noted inventors 
who have had to go to a foreign country in order to receive apprecia- 
tion for their discoveries. It is time for us to stop boasting of the 
things we do and take stock of the things we leave for others to do. 
One way to make things more encouraging for inventors would be 
to create a "Foundation," to investigate and develop new inventions. 
The idea may sound impractical, but on second thought it is no 
more so than the great funds which are already created for the 
development of educational and medical research work. Why not a 
fund to develop inventions? It is easy to conceive of the difficulties 
in the way of this scheme but think of the possibilities. Think also 
of the humiliation which an American inventor must feel when he is 
driven to Europe to get money to develop his idea, — and this the 
richest nation in the world ! 



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